


Stitches In My Eyes

by Vert_knows_she_has_bigger_breasts_BOIING



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: A few oc's find death, Angst, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fluff, Hisoka's questionable driving techniques, Humor, Love Triangles, M/M, Nano Rhymo, Physical Abuse, Property Damage, Public Humiliation, Revenge, chase scene, cross dressing, mama pika
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 21:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 65,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11745327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vert_knows_she_has_bigger_breasts_BOIING/pseuds/Vert_knows_she_has_bigger_breasts_BOIING
Summary: Kuraprika's revenge fights with his values.Falling in love isn't a part of his plans but when you look like a girl you tend to be prepared for some misconceptions. As the incident's pile up the blonde learns things that change his life.





	1. Adventures of What You're Not Supposed to do in School

**Author's Note:**

> " Normal talking"  
> 'Thoughts'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Hunter x Hunter.

The sun rose laggardly behind the Kurta who was up at four am like usual, getting ready for his job that made it easier to do his mission, giving him loads of free time. 

The contacts were applied first with an eye drop. Followed by combing through the short hair. The earrings went in while the bread toasted. Two pieces and a topping was not- negotiable, strawberry jam today. Putting the toast on a paper plate after getting water from the tap the blonde goes to the laptop he owned. One of the most expensive things anyway. Checking the news sites to see if any thieving was committed while he slept. Nothing popped up.

' That's good now I won't have to call into work today and get to see Gon and Killua.' Closing the screen after logging out the young adult put the last piece of toast in his mouth chewing. Changing out of his dirty sleeping clothes the blonde puts on his brown short sleeve and pants, followed by his teal green v - neck long sleeve shirt and similar colored pants. The last layer is his baby blue outlined dark blue poncho. 

Bathroom to brush his teeth with his green tooth brush. Floss wash and repeat. The final touch was to lean over the counter, slightly pull down his left eye lid then his right to check the contacts were staying in place. Putting the brush way while going to the front door the blond places his left hand on the wall for support as he puts on his right shoe grabbing his bag to sling on. 

Shutting the door taking the time to lock the knob and the dead bolt then check both with a jiggle. Kurapika wasn't going to be a victim of chance with someone stopping by randomly to steal other stuff and finding the eyes. Chance rarely works so kindly to one individual than to the rest and the Kurta refused to be the victim through negligence again. Purposefully having his none high-value items. If someone did break in the laptop was on the counter, let them take it versus the alternative.' The blonde nods hello and smiles at the land lady as he passes her on the stairs. 

The commute went along the busiest street, Fordsworth then a right going along the backside of the playground. Hearing kids running around before class started. Opening the door the bell rings but the blonde barely gathered attention as the ‘ doctor' of the facility was playing rocket with the kids and others clinging to his legs with sticky hands. The tall man of a doctor probably broke and gave some away before he should have after the kids started to beg.  


Kurapika picking up a bottle of hand sanitizer. The kids were going to be fussy if they had to leave Leorio's side for long to wash their hands with a fight likely to occur because someone cut in front of another person.

The doctor in training looks at his blonde hair friend. "Jimmy stuck a Barbie shoe in his ear after Jacqueline said glass makes a pleasant ringing sound when touched. Jimmy of course didn't believe her and had to try it out. I gave him a butterscotch candy to suck on then told him to nap after I removed it. I’ll have to call his mom about anti infection drops." Motioning with his head to one of the doors in the hallway. Grinning sheepishly when Kurapika's gaze lands on more kids around the man's leg than before. "I couldn’t just leave…"

Kurapika holds up an opened hand smiling. "I know…" crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head to the side the blonde playful responses “Clinging to you and not having a tantrum is pretty good." 

"Hey! I just didn't want to make them cry is all." Leorio uses an excuse his voice raising in volume.  


The Kurta nods his head slowly as if haven't heard that before." Where's the-" The blonde begins in a stern voice before interrupted by his friend Gon pulling on his arm.

The twelve-year-old kept looking at Kurapika’s shoulder then the ground as he fidgeted with his foot as his right hand is clenched in a fist. “You know… I uh think maybe um I should tell you. I wasn't watching Jimmy…" the boy took a depth breath the shoulders trembling slightly. 

“He wanted the toy so I gave it to him. I even asked if he was going to put it somewhere he's not supposed to and he said no. Caroline then came as she was having trouble zipping up the toy bag so I left" the last word has a hiccup as the boy's eyes start to look watery both hands clasped into Kurapika's clothes " I really didn't mean for him to get hurt. I'm sorry. Can I fix it somehow?" 

The blonde kneels, pulling an ever present Kleenex tissue from his clothes offering it if the boy needs it. ‘Gon’s so sensitive.’ "Now you coming up to me is the right thing to do." Gon stands his eyes starting to shine as he holds his breath in anticipation of hope. "But let's have Jimmy be the judge of your punishment." 

Steering the blacknet by the shoulders toward the hallway as the blonde passed Leorio who grabbed his shoulders asking him to wait. The blonde stared at his other friend in the eyes mouthing, ‘I got this.' before closing the door to the room Jimmy's in. As a group of kids watches especially a white haired twelve-year-old and Leorio. 

The boy was playing with a Top Gun figurine. Gon approaches slowly watching for any negative reactions. Instead, the boy asked seeing Gon and lighting up with a smile "You want to play with my Top Gun?" offering the toy. 

Pointing at the younger Gon leans in “You’re not mad at me?" eyes widening. 

“No." the redhead instantly replies sitting up and tilting his head to the side, shoulders slumping after looking at the island boy for a few seconds. “You don't want to play with my Top Gun?" Eyes down casting to the soldier in his lap. 

Waving his arms no as if they were wind shield wipers clearing the confusion the golden eyed boy hopped on the bed with a grin asking " Who's the villain?"

Jimmy stops waving around the toy like a superman “Oh! I forgot. I‘ve got to go get Mr. Penguin. " The red head jumps off the bed thumping over to the door to open it, revealing Leorio on his hands and knees ear pressed to the door letting out an " ah!' while jumping. Quickly getting up and dusting off his pants.  


A white haired boy pops his head around the door to check on Gon. The blacknet notices breaking into a grin as he gets off the bed with so much eagerness blankets fly towards the head board. "Killua!" Right next to his friend he bounces up and down "Jimmy says he's not mad at me but just in case I'm going to be extra nice to people today." Gon does a sloppy salute to the twelve-year-old.

Killua starts smiling his chest soon shaking as he laughs. "What are you doing? You can't be a soldier. You'd heal the enemy."  


Dropping the salute Gon begins to protest "Hey… “But thinks about Killua's reasoning.” I can't argue." Scratching the back of his head with his hand. Both now laughing. 

Laughing wasn't the only thing heard, the kids were whispering to each other “… eavesdropping? Do you think we can do that? Well if Leorio can we can, he's an adult."

Kurapika sighed shutting his eyes ‘monkey see, monkey do is word of wisdom’s for this situation.'  


Leorio sees Kurapika sighing. The doctor gulps the blonde's lectures were something else, in the battle of intelligence it seemed he was doomed to a fate like a Shakespeare’s play with someone having to die.'

Kurapika strides to the doorway to look down the hallway at the kids who picked up gossiping from a certain doctor too. “You’re not allowed to eavesdrop. Do what I say and not what Leorio does." The kids let out an ‘epp' and dash out of the room giggling.

"Hey!" Leorio springs to life as his mind processes he's been insulted. "Now my credibility with the kids went down.” The doctor lets out a frustrated groan staring at the blonde.

Killua leans on the wall with his hands behind his head acting like a pillow. "As if you had any credibility from the start. You should have just stood to the side and opened the door. If anyone asked you, you could just say you were waiting for a friend that's a more believable lie."

A tick forms on Leorio's head ‘this kid has been disrespecting adults since I came here. I can't get along with him.'

The islander boy looks at his friends "But wasn't he doing that in the first place?" Raising his left hand to ask the question out of habit. 

The responses spoke for themselves.

“Yeah."

“Basically."

“I guess you can spin it that way." 

Leorio sharply turns his head to the left watching Killua “What do you mean?"

Killua lazily glances at Leorio with his blue eyes, picking himself off the wall while placing his hands in his front pockets, tilting his chin up. “Should you be saying that to someone you owe a debt to?" The white haired boy smirked mischievously holding his right hand out palm up ready to collect his winnings from his earlier bet.  


Spreading his arms in front of his chest Leorio whines “That’s my lunch. I need that today Killua. I'll pay you back later." The last part comes out as a whisper.  


Killua starts sliding away backward “Then I'll just have to tell…" 

Kurapika's inner mom warning systems went off. The blonde covers Gon's ears curling his fingers around the outside and pressing his palm on the channeling orifice to block out as much sound as possible besides chasing the two lewd idiots away from their purer friend Gon.

“Don’t you tell a soul about my personal time!" Leorio growls getting louder while pointing a finger at the trouble making boy.

"Well I'm sorry but … “Killua shrugs cutting off his sweet voice " I'll have to take something else as payment."

"I told you once." The doctor lowers his voice to sound more authoritative speaking slower too. “Don’t touch my p--"

"Ahem." came a forceful clearing of the throat. Kurapika stares silently down the two friends in the hallway. Leorio fishes out his wallet from his back pocket pulling a twenty that Killua snatches making it vanish. Leorio sulks glaring at Killua who's focusing on Gon released from the sound block.

"What - just happened?" Gon asks in a small voice noticeable gaps between the words.

Kurapika thinks about answering that Leorio has reclaimed his stupid man act in the Japanese culture, refraining from doing so in the end. 

Leorio clicks his teeth “I’m going to be starving again for lunch." The doctor twisted his fingers into his abdomen as if clutching the growls to throw them away like a pro baseball player and solve his problems. 

Gon shakes his head his hair waving around like a broom grabbing his friend's arm to drag along the elder over to the kitchen. “That won't do. You need a full stomach to do your best work. Hang on and I'll get you food." 

Boosting himself onto the counter the boy gets a baggie that's clean and gallon size. Pushing the bag onto the closed cabinet with a sharpie in hand the islander writes ‘Leorio’s Lunch'. Looking at the tiled floor the tween jumps. Walking to the fridge he pulls out a grape juice box, a foot roll up from a bottom compartment then a prepackaged pj sandwich that screams school lunch. Finishing off with a healthy green apple. Pressing the bag to his chest the boy squeezes out the air. “Here you go." The boy smiles offering the lunch to the fully grown man. 

Leorio's eyes are downcast as he looks at this predicament. ‘If I take the lunch then I'll forever be doomed without a hot girlfriend. Ostracized to a corner, but if I don't…' sweat starts to bead on the man's head as he feels a little hot, loosening his tie unconsciousness, not feeling empowered by the action at all. The thoughts started to race faster ‘but if I don't then Gon will be hurt! He was down about Jimmy.' Leorio internally screams falling further into a panic. 

Gon frowns. “You don't want it?" The boy's eyes going puppy like without him knowing.

It’s a moment of distress when the brain can synthesize information together randomly. Leorio didn't learn this in class yet so he didn't know he was about to fuck up like Gavin when he said the first thing that came to his mouth." I can't because you're not a milf." 

Kurapika strode up accidentally stomping on Leorio's left foot, twisting to make it painful. Killua turns around a hand covering his mouth as smirking laughter follows then the boy's on the ground in the fetal position as his side cramps. Leorio jumps up and down holding his injured foot with both hands " ow, ow, ow!" 

Gon gets another bag to put ice in it working quickly so his friend wouldn't be in pain for long. Kurapika holds the bag open as Gon puts in ice curiosity getting him. “What does Leorio mean by milf? “Leaning in to secretly talk with his knowledgeable blonde friend. 

" What Leorio meant." emphasizing the word meant" is milk induced lactose flavor. Basically, he wants chocolate milk but its slang so no one else will get it, don't go repeating. “Patting the boy on the head they split up the rest of the work, the blonde icing Leorio's foot and Gon getting chocolate milk. 

Kurapika tired of the demagogic antics pushes Leorio out the door so the academic day could begin, worrying about the group getting into trouble. Thankful not too much disturbance was created that the younger children picked up on some colorful vocabulary. 

»»-------------¤-------------««

The day flew by with trigonometry, Romeo, and Juliet than a jumping jacks competition for recess. The end rolled around. Kurapika stood in front of the class after the cleanup clapping his hands to get attention." Now everyone remember to go home and get your permission slips signed and return them soon."  
The kids filed out till only the slow pokes and the dutiful remained. Gon and Killua waited to see Kurapika leave who usually volunteered to close. The boys had disappeared into the kitchen while being suspiciously quiet. Kurapika decided to investigate finding Killua looking for candy while Gon drank milk from a Paw Patrol cup. 

"Killua." The blonde begins watching the boy put his hand on top of the cabinets to see if candy was tapped there. The boy turned around to see the Kurta pull a bag of candy from his clothes followed by two more. 

Gon swallows the last of his milk. "See? I told you Kurapika had hidden them well. I heard the incorrect cloth ruffling from him today. "Putting the cup in the dishwasher after rinsing it off. 

Killua gave up closing the cubby door to slowly walk past the blonde with his hands in his pockets. But having noticed another bulge on the blonde's left side, when Killua was on the backside he snatched it running toward the door a smirk on his face.

Gon chased after his friend with the blonde following slowly, "Now that you have stolen it you must want to eat the dried jalapenos I got for you." 

"No! I don't like spicy food." Killua protested looking for a trash can so Gon wouldn't be able to adopt the food into dinner tonight. 

Gon calls out "We can make huevos a la Mexicana tonight. I probably should use up the rest of the eggs we got."

"Just make that for lunch tomorrow, for yourself." Demanded the candy lover clinging to the walls where he'd be out of reach for Gon to strong arm him into going to their shared apartment where he's fate would be sealed and his taste buds fried. 

Kurapika looks at his friend while Gon jumps trying to get a good grip on the white haired boy's foot. "I'll let the joke slide if you don't go after the candy for three days." The blonde states, looking Killua straight in his blue eyes, smothering a smile at what will become another memory for them. The response was a stronger glare as he shakes his head in defiance. "You know there are 19 peppers in there. That's more than one meal." The Kurta sing songs knowing it was a powerful card to play.

The white haired boy gets down. Gon confronts his friend holding out his pinkie. Killua hooks his finger, snapping it apart. "We'll have ice cream for dinner." Gon supplies to cheer up the sweet lover. 

"That's not healthy, at least stay off the toppings. Only two bowls should be enough dairy for your growing needs." 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The paler boy responds snatching Gon's hand and dashing out the door grabbing both of their backpacks. "Let's get out of here before pika mom makes any more unfriendly kid demands."

Gon waves as he disappears around a corner laughing at his friends' joke, "Bye Kurapika have a good night!"

The blonde sighs watching his friend go thinking about the cavities that could happen. "I'll pack their overnight toothbrushes for tomorrow if they need it. Though Gon will probably rein Killua in. I shouldn't worry too much about it.' 

The blonde locks the door going home for the night texting back ‘goodnight' after seeing the text Gon had sent him before taking his contacts out and going to bed. Going to the closet and praying to his brethren eyes for good luck for his journey.


	2. Well That's a Work Out

It’s now Saturday. Filling his bottle with water from the fridge, pulling the ice packs from the freezer to keep it chilled. Taking off one of the layers of clothes he’d wear and putting the second layer as a fresher layer in his gym bag until he could come home and shower. Swiping on deodorant. The gym was in a shopping center near the back corner. 

Going to his locker the blonde drops off his bag pulling the bright orange plastic bracelet with his keys onto his wrist. 

Dana one of the sanitary janitors waves. Kurapika reciprocating the greeting back to her. “I cleaned the equipment near the windows if you want first dibs.” Continuing wiping the leg curling machines, dipping a towel into a bucket of chemicals.

Kurapika starts his five sets of ten of pec decks, kickbacks and front raises. Kurapika saw the weights available for a trap workout but unless no one was around the blonde got embarrassed. Deciding next to work with his bokken, the blonde moved to the dojo part of the gym. 

A good sixteen feet by sixteen feet room with a back door leading to the changing room through a corridor. The bathrooms were only accessible through the workout room. The dojo looked peculiar with a whole wall being made of reflective glass but being a small business renting it out to dancers was a good source of income. Beginning with Taekwondo’s first sequence Taegeuk Il Jang making his clothes pop. At the end of the second, the Kurta’s starting to sweat.

It was in the fourth form did Kurapika hear Dana squeal as she scrambled to open the door the blonde had closed to have peace and keep his focus. “A guy’s going through the other experts here. They’re getting injuries. One was knocked out and the guy said oops I can’t control my strength.” Dana breathed out in a rush hands on her knees looking at the Kurta crying. The blonde runs to see the commotion with his eyes.

A man wearing a light brown long sleeved shirt disabled the staff from Saitama's hands, the swordsmen’s long dark brown hair in a ponytail swinging as he hits the forearm with a resounding smack. 

‘That will leave a bruise’. Kurapika watches the bald man stumble deciding he's seen enough. ‘This is unfair. The skill level difference is obvious,’ the blonde thinks. Analyzing the situation to find an appropriate time to jump in to avoid the issue escalating further. The swordsman plants his foot bringing up his arms. The information gets processed by the blonde ‘he’s going to do a finishing blow?!’ Pushing forward the blonde swings his bokken blocking the attack with a loud crash. Saitama flinches then opened his eyes to crawl back from the two.

“Oh, another one?” The swordsmen slowly responds inspecting the blonde and not seeing a worth of challenge.” I picked this place because it was small dojo, maybe family inherited. Someone disciplined should be here. I’m a dojo hunter and I didn’t want my skills to get rusty, but you only have numbers on your side.” 

“Is that really the reason you're sticking with?” The Kurta narrows his eyes at the individual wearing jeans standing tall and placing his feet shoulder width apart. 

“Hm?” The ponytail man cranes his neck to the right getting a pop while looking at the bokken wielder. “Yeah.”

“That’s hard to believe. If you are as strong as you are. You should have been able to realize this dojo did not have people at your level. From what I heard you started attacking people not declaring you came to take the banner of this dojo, as a dojo hunter would.” 

The swordsmen brings a hand to his chin taking a closer look at the blonde. “Attacking is a declaration of war. No one questioned the entering of World War two when Japan bombed the U.S because America thought they were at war.” 

The blonde nods his head to the statement in agreement, while the swordsmen looks around for something. “I would agree but you’re using logic not from the Edo period of Japan where dojo hunting originated from. Does it apply to what you're doing now as a supposed dojo hunter?”

Realizing the blonde is taking this in an abstract direction the swordsmen counters. “Violence and conflict have been a part of humanity for as long as it existed. The popular term coined is ‘survival of the fittest’. I don’t want my skills to get rusty so I can survive.”

“In that case, you should leave all you’re going to get here is talk. And you should give up on dojo hunting. You're not in an area where there’s dojos and they accept challenges. “

Dana watches the two men debate. But if only it was debating! The brunettes terrified at what could happen next. The dojo members could all get hurt. Kurapika gets hurt for standing up for people. Have I actually helped in getting Kurapika killed? The janitor gulps down the extra saliva until her mouth goes dry her brown eyes going in a tunnel vision on the fighters before her. Reaching out a shaky hand she lets out in a squeaky whisper, “hey… please stop… oh god please make them stop.”

Kurapika glances at Dana trying to reassure her but moves his gaze back to the swordsmen. “I want to settle this peacefully. You shouldn’t have reason to be here anymore.” ‘Now with it set as a comment in conversation. The replay has to be yes and then leave or no then state reason. Either way in a conversation the response is your opinion. If he says no I can counter argue the reason so he leaves and we can start taking care of the wounded. He seems like a guy that reasons with logic but the core is emotion. I know the best way.' Kurta strategically calculates in his head, eyes flickering over the other man’s body for any attempts of something.

‘Conflict? Survival of the fittest? What is this man saying? His eyes are hard and uncaring as if bored with this situation. What kind of family and place did he grow up? What would make a man like that?! ‘Dana takes a step back. ‘But Kurapika's got this. He’s sure and steady he’s talking this guy down.’ The brunette looks at the blonde's shoulders feeling the tightness in her chest go down. ‘They're not shaking.’ 

“I suppose you're right but dojo hunting is a past time. I have other ways to keep sharp. But you're wrong about any reason to go. If there’s not any dojo’s doing the practice then I should relish the ones that do. Like yours.” The swordsmen puts up his sword in guard.

“This is a gym! The dojo is a supplement.” Dana cries out.

“Going place to place and having to explain is no fun. The blonde knows what I’m talking about.” 

“I guess it was going to happen.” Kurapika moves to a fighting stance. ‘I was hoping he wouldn’t notice. If you can reason a topic you have to first know about it. I’ll try to make the best of it.’ “After this, you’re leaving.”

“I doubt you have a dojo master so I guess.” Kurapika does a bow to his opponent bringing his bokken up to guard. The swordsmen bows his head smiling.

“Now wait a minute. Isn’t this an unfair challenge?” Dana interjects hoping to stop them.

“Dana stay back for your safety along with everyone else.” The blonde replies starting to circle the other for weakness in his guard. 

“If you get between us you’ll be cut.” Nobunga warns the girl, possibly humoring the bokken user. 

‘His guard's and foot placement’s good.’ Kurapika thinks swallowing the heat crawling up his throat from the adrenaline.

‘The blonde keeps looking at my feet. I’ll have to watch for a side-sweep.’ The swordsmen analyzes otherwise her stance is good, she’s been doing martial arts for a long time.’ “Aren’t you going to go first?” The ponytail man questions after a few circles.

“You’ve been the starter to this point is there reason to change now?” The blonde cooly moves her lips. 

The swordsman’s answer is to stop circling and go left for a strike.The man’s ponytail flying out behind him. 

‘Fast!’ The blonde’s eyes widen, tipping his balance back. ‘A charge means it’ll be harder for him to change the direction he’s going. I’ll do a front kick to his gut.’ Rearing his foot up Kurapika kicks forward. 

Parrying the man swivels on his foot 360 degrees, not losing his momentum and avoiding the kick. Out of the pivot, the man swings his sword with his right hand toward the blonde’s knee. 

Kurapika takes a sharp intake of breath. ’That could break my knee.’ Pulling his right leg in and pushing off with his left foot, drawing strength from his stomach. The blonde jumped over the swordsmen countering with a lash of his bokken at the man's back. Kurapika grabbed a hold of the man’s arm and moved it with him the swordsman's left arm went into a kick back hold and would be dislocated if he moved incorrectly. 

The swordsmen crouches letting his left arm be stretched over his head in a rising sun arc. Bringing up his right forearm to block the attack rather than have the bokken hit his back. 

The momentum from the jump had the blonde do a backflip to absorb the force. Landing in a crouch both arms in front slightly bent at the elbows and holding the bokkens. Locking eyes with the swordsmen as Kurapika stands. 

The swordsmen flexes his right fingers quickly accessing the damage, not bad. “What a surprise.” The older man laughs. “You’re pretty cat like and flexible aren’t you?” 

“I prefer that as my fighting style.” The blonde answers charging this time. ‘I’ll swing my bokken making it look like my main attack. But I’ll step on his foot to keep him from pivoting into a better position and punch him. The blonde swings first, the mustache man blocking with his sword. The scarlet eyes goes for a punch to the gut with left hand. 

The swordsmen tries to jump back but the blonde’s right foot has him pinned to the ground. The punch moving forward. ‘This girl’s good at changing the situation to an advantage for her but I’m giving up on defense to go offensively.’ The ponytail man decides, grabbing the end of the bokken with his left hand to throw it in the face of the blonde. 

Kurapika leans back, buying time to dodge. Dropping to do a kick to the man’s stomach from the ground. The attack lands pushing the aggressor back. As the man stumbles backwards though determination sparks in his eyes. Kurapika moves in to take advantage of the swordsmen being off balance and possibly finish him off but the swordsmen smiles as the blonde gets closer. Kuraprika realizes it’s a trap. 

‘A swordsmen is a close range fighter so you getting close means you're easier to slice.’ Out of the exchange Kurapika lost his bokken as the man threw them away they laid a few meters across the room and the swordsmen was in the way. Bringing his left arm to the hilt of the katana the mustache man draws the blade swinging at the Kurta. 

The blonde barely dodges, his bangs being cut as he stands on his right hand shifting his body to the side. The blade came down parallel to his body instead of in it. The blonde gulps, eyes watching his reflection on the blade for the second he looks. ‘I need a weapon. I’m at too much of a disadvantage without one.‘ Twisting his legs to become scissors, the blonde grabs the shelve locking it near his knee as he tumble rolls away to get back on his feet. Moving the scabbard into his hands. Using the sheen’s reflection the Kurta sees the man’s next attack coming, holding the sheath horizontally over his head to block the attack from slicing him in half. Turning around to see his opponent do another swing, moving one of his hands down to hold the casing like a staff in front of him leaning in it’d be harder to break through the defense and create an opening. 

Shifting his body to the left and therefore his sword the ponytail man slides past the sheath in a thrust slicing into the shoulder of the blonde, who lets out a hiss, gritting his teeth. 

‘After an enemy’s attack lands or is an evaded their guard is down.’ The blonde clenched his muscles going under the sword the blonde pivots connecting a back kick into the exposed chest pushing the man away. Kurapika jumps back turning in the air so his back isn’t to his opponent. ‘Dammit he keeps making me do that. I don’t like this guy.’ The blonde glared at the older man. Taking his left hand he touches the right shoulder, blood sticking to his fingers. ‘It’s deep…’ flexing his fingers takes more effort. ‘Good, he didn’t sever anything but I’m down probably 55 percent movement. 

“Wait! Don’t use swords. I’ll call the cops if you don’t stop!” Dana yells staring at the swordsmen as she holds up her phone. 

“It’s just a match. There’s no harm done you crazy women. The older man writes off Dana and the cops. Looking back at the blonde then down at the shelve. “If I’m leaving it’s with the rest of my belongings. “ 

Kurapika holds up the sheath eyeing his bokken. Walking over and picking them up to tuck under his left arm. Glancing at the intruder Kurapika walked as silently as possible. If the man did come after him he could hear his footsteps instead of having to wait for the others warning. Putting the swordsman's belonging there he walks back to the rest of the group noticing the man didn’t move. ‘Good. I want to be in a position where I can get in between him and the others if need be.' 

“You can get the rest of your Katana.” The blonde sharply stated watching every movement of his as he picked up the piece and some grocery bags weighing on his arms as he left.‘Why would he have grocery bags? There was too many-” the thought gets interrupted as the blonde gets patted on the shoulder. 

“Good job Kurapika!” A member of the gym jollily yells.

The blonde lets out a hiss as the pain returns. The blonde bows his head as his fingers grip the flesh. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t pay attention.” Saitama removes his hand. 

Dana rushes over. “Call an ambulance. They’ll get you looked at. “The janitor brings the phone up, starting to type in numbers.

Kurapika reaches out with his right arm on instinct, flinching but still covering the screen and getting the brunette’s attention. “Don’t worry about it. I have a doctor friend who can look at it.” ‘I’m happy that she's concerned but going to a hospital meant names and I can’t tell people my last name.’ Smiling up at the girl to reassure her.

“Yeah, but that looks like it hurts wouldn’t it be best to get an ambulance?” One of the members points in the generally direction of the hospital, one eye closed trying not to see as much gore as possible. 

“Hospitals are busy saving people’s lives. If you’re stable you’re put on a waitlist for treatment. The ones getting wheeled into automatic treatment are near death’s doorstep. It’ll be hours before I get treated. Why do you think in all the t.v. shows they’re seen as clustered? There’s a problem anyway I’m in no condition to drive. The ambulance doesn’t drop your off at your home. I’ll just have my friend drive me after the treatment’s done.” 

“I’m going to help pay for it. It’s the least I can do to show my gratitude.” Dana interjects the rest of the people nodding their heads in agreement. 

The blonde thinks of a way for a compromise. “If any other issues arises then you can pay.” Looking at the doubtful brunette. The blonde didn’t want to pull a trick because he’d feel guilty. 'I’ll say sorry later', the blonde tells himself in his thoughts to ease him through the process. ‘’It’s been a long night for me and I would like to go home where it’s safe and comfortable with my friends.” The blonde tried to look them in the eye while he told the lie, but if felt uncomfortable not something he was raised to do. Lie to people he could consider his associates and friends. ‘I hope this seals the deal. I don't want to add anymore it’ll be harder to sustain anyway. 

The brunette looks at Kurapika he really does look scared as if demons are before him and he just wants to shut his eyes and it out. It reminds me when I would curl up in my mother’s lap for comfort. “I’ll let it slide but I want a call later to confirm you’re ok.” The blonde nods. 

“Can you drive me home and I’ll meet my friend there?’ The brunette nods getting the blonde’s equipment. There wasn’t any bandages big enough so instead the blond used a white hand towel to staunch the bleeding on the car ride to his house. 

Calling Leorio on the way over who must have broken some rules to get there before Kurapika and Dana did, shaving time off getting dressed. Flip flops, no jacket and his shirt inside out the tag sticking out in the back. Dana slowed down to inspect the man who would be taking over the blonde frowning and looking at Kurapika for confirmation the guy was a friend and not some wandering drunk. 

Leorio sees the duo eyes bulging out and zeroing in on the Kurta's shoulder examining the bloody cloth. ‘His arm looks limp. Oh God - what happens if it’s permanent? ‘Panicking taking over the man’s face as it blanches in color. “Kurapika, what happened!?” rushing over to gently and slowly pull the towel off and see the damage. 

“Crazy person attacked him.” Dana answered scowling and taking a breath like she wants to add more derogatory to her description.

Leorio does a double take in his head. ‘Attack, she said attack right?’ “When did this happen?” The older man asks Kurapika who was fishing his keys out of his pocket. 

“Let’s talk inside.” The blonde state's opening the lock with his left hand looking at Dana the Kurta supplies “Thanks for driving me. You can go to sleep.” Turning back to the door jiggling the keys to get one unlocked and working on the next. Leorio takes the keys doing it himself and opening the door, the two men going inside. The blonde sits at the table so the doctor would have easier access than the couch.

The doctor puts his tool kit on the table. Putting on large blue sterile gloves then picking an antiseptic wash cloth and tearing open its package. Removing the hand towel to clean the wound. “You didn’t answer my question about what happened.” Done with the wipe he puts it on the table. 

“A guy was waving a sword around at the gym.” The blonde answers the question turning his head to look at Leorio with a flashlight examining the wound.

“Why’d he come in?” Leorio makes a face that’s disgust, a frown, and raised eyebrows. 

Kurapika is surprised. Generally the man is declaring things loudly. Is something up with him? He’s taking this too well…’ The blonde stares at Leorio who looks at the blonde asking, “What’s wrong?” Eyebrows furrowing in concentration. “Nothing.” The blonde shakes his head. “I guess he was drunk and wandered in. I smelt alcohol on his breath.”

The brunette’s done examining the wound he opens packaged thread tying a knot on a needle. ‘What’s the space out staring from? Does Kurapika have a conclusion? I’ve focused on one injury that I forgot to ask about possible others?’ Ready to sew Leorio starts, “Relax. How did you get in a fight with the guy?” Silence was between the two for a few moments. 

“He started attacking people. I wasn’t going to stand by while he went on a rampage.”

Leorio’s eyes narrows his mouth pursed in a straight line as his shoulders tense up. “I’m finished with the stitches and with--” The man cuts himself off as the blonde inspects the handy-work not paying attention to him. The doctor pulls more thread out of a spool packing it into the eye of the needle. “I’m done with the first set. They’re on the muscle and bio-degradable. You won’t have to worry about them needing to be removed. “Once done the excess thread’s cut. The doctor puts an extra-large butterfly bandage with neo spawn wrapping to give support. “I don’t have to put you in a splint but be careful not to pull the shoulder when you move.” The brunette cautions placing his tools back in his briefcase, then gathering up the trash to throw it away. 

“Thanks Leorio.” Kurapika says smiling. 

“You know - Kurapika you’re worrying me. It’s ok when you stop some lousy purse snatcher on the street. But this guy was dangerous. You got hurt. What‘s going to happen next?!” I’ve never had to come and fix the blonde. I thought he couldn’t get hurt but I’m wrong and that’s making me freak out.’ The doctor clenches his fists at his side after striding to where the blonde sat.

“Leorio this is the first time I’ve gotten injured. The guy left. I doubt he will come to bother me again or the gym. Dana would call the cops automatically.” The blonde stubbornly answers raising his eyes and head to the challenge. 

“ Kurapika if that cut was an inch deeper…” throwing his hands in the air then slamming them on the table to lean in and yell” hell even a centimeter and you could’ve lost motor control of your shoulder. If it had been the same amount of distance lower you could have a major vein cut into which would have increased your chances of bleeding out to death.”

The blonde sighs, closing his eyes temporarily and reopening them. “But I didn’t” leaning forward closer” He didn’t. I can rely on you to fix me. I trust your skills.”  


The older man’s fingers twitch as he clenches his teeth until his jaw hurts. “That’s the problem. I wasn’t here today I was busy shopping as if someone’s life didn’t depend on me. Or someone’s son - especially someone’s arm! Even the times I have been there. It doesn’t mean I’ll be able to fix it or be of any use. It’s happened once and it can happen again.’ “Let me see your head.” The doctor demands through clenched teeth. 

The blonde blinks at the topic change not sure what to say. 

The brunette doesn’t wait for an ok as he starts to probe the back of the Kurta’s head for any bumps. 

“I don’t have a concussion. I didn't hit my head.” The bokken wielding says to his thighs. 

“No.” The doctor interjects “Don’t try to reason your way out,” leaning down and taking a step back. The brunette locks eyes with the Kurta “’cause you're not.” 

The blonde smiles “But isn’t talking myself out of it what I would do if I was healthy?”

The brunette curses, turning his head away then looking back at the blonde. Torn between hugging his friend who wasn’t as touchy as compared to him or leaving it as it was. He decided to go somewhere in the middle holding up his fist. “Secret shake.” 

The blonde stared at the fist bringing his left hand to bump down then up again. Flattening it out like paper from rock paper scissors they both put their hands on top of each other trying to be the one on top until they ended it with a high five.” Do this when you're in trouble or need to tell me you're good ok?” 

“Ok.” The blonde nods his head. 

‘I suppose I should give up on getting any better than that. He’s stubborn. It’s time to act normally.’ Leorio consoles himself breaking into a lopsided grin. “So, why didn’t you tell me about that girl huh?” 

“I did. That’s Dana.” The scarlet eyes informs his friend. 

“You did? What about her number and her type?”

“I don’t have her number but I think her type is someone that can fight.” The blonde reflects on how Dana reacted using it as evidence for his hypothesis. 

The doctor lets out a frustrated groan. “The chicks like you and not me. It isn’t fair! I can fight, I know how to use a knife.”

“I can call the shop she works at and get her number.” ‘That reminds me that she said to call her anyway otherwise she’ll scold me.’ The blonde presses in the number bringing the phone to his ear. 

The line doesn’t get to the second ring before the person in question picks it up answering, “Hello?”

“I’m calling like you told me to.”

The girl bursts in, "did the doctor take care of you? Will there be a scar?” 

“No. “The blond feels his arm being nudged looking at Leorio who‘s waving his hand in a hurry motion leaning forward while staring at the Kurta his nose wrinkled. “ Yeah. For scaring we’ll have to wait and see. Are you at the gym?” 

“Yeah, I had to come to make a personal statement. I was halfway through with it when you called. Can I give one of the officers you phone number so they can contact you later to get your statement?” 

“Yeah but can I have your personal number just in case something comes up?” The line goes silent for a moment. 

”Do you have paper and pen?” 

The blonde looks to Leorio who rummages in his breast pocket for a pen and pulls a business card out of another pocket flipping it onto the back side, clicking the pen open. “Ready when you are.”

“Ok. It’s 303- 497- 1617. Did you get it?” 

“303 - 497- 1617. Can you have the police call me tomorrow on Sunday? I should be free. I’ll write down what I remember tonight. Bye then.”

“Bye Kurapika. I’ll got the approval. Get well soon.” The blond hung up.

“She has a really sweet voice. I can imagine her calling after a really hard day at work and it’d make it all better’ Leorio dreamily said eyes half closed.

“I’m going to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.” The blonde pulls himself from the chair going to his room to take out his contacts, write the report and brush his teeth. Kurapika preferred dirty clothes over taking off the multiply layers.

The doctor grabbed his bag exiting the apartment. After Leorio closed the door he stopped wanting to turn around and punch his fist in the wall and press the doorbell a few times.’ He tricked me. Getting back to normal too quickly. I have to stay mad at him otherwise he won’t learn anything from this. Fricking baited me with Dana. It’s better than the two of us arguing and then giving each other the silent treatment for a while though. If playing pretend like it’s nothing helps a friend then I’ll do it. I’ll be there next time if that jackass comes around.’ Done making his vow and clenching his fist in determination the tall man strides back to his car. ‘I got to brush up on injuries to the shoulder tonight.’ 

»»-------------¤-------------««

Meanwhile in a different part of town the other combatant meet up with associates of his own. Walking into the run down building that was scouted out on the eastern side of town. “Yo.” the swordsmen lets out a call of greeting.

“You’re late.” Phinks growled out annoyed, turning his head to glare over his right shoulder.

Feitan puts his hand of cards away in his coat sleeve turning his attention to food.

“Feitan, we put our cards on the ground not in our sleeves.” Franklin puts his hand on the ground keeping a steady eye on the torturer. 

The man in question narrows his eyes placing the cards on the ground.” Tch.”

Phinks smirks “busted.”

The blacknet pulls his wallet out adding money to the jackpot a twenty with blood on it.

Franklin grabbed all the cards and reshuffled. “I don’t trust Feitan.”

“I was hungry before you left. Making one person do it is supposed to be more efficient.” Phinks tries to educate Nobunga.

“That's what you get for liking Blood Shock Beer. I had to go to an alcohol only shop to get it. “The swordsmen back fired at the fist grappler. 

“Want Nobunaga?” Feitein asks pointing at the cards. Successfully hiding his glee at the thought of robbing another person of money besides previous experience playing cards with him. 

The ponytail man shakes his head no finished sitting down the bags. 

Shalnark’s blonde head perks at the invitation. “Deal me in.” The boyish looking man sets his laptop to the side. ‘I don’t want to get food in the keys but still want to do something while I eat.’ The muscled third in command jumps from the rock he was perched on. Grabbing his sushi bowl and eating it as he watched Franklin deal the cards.

“Shalnark you go first.”

“War right?”

“We’re playing b.s.” Phinks corrects. 

Shalnark frowns giving a dirty look to the other blonde in the group. “One.” ‘War with four people is funnier.’ 

Nobunaga grabs his microwavable food going to the room where Shalnark had set up the microwave in an outlet that actually worked and didn’t sent out massive sparks unlike the ones in the believed to be main foyer. 

The chandelier fell while the troupe was occupying the space, thinking it was an enemy attacking Phinks and Feitan ran to the foyer shouting out if I kill first I win. The two cursed when it was just broken glass and cracks on the ceiling being the cause of the excitement. The card games just moved a little over and the mess didn’t move at all. 

In the back of the building the samurai poked a hole into the cardboard box, opening the package as he walked. Squatting he puts down his katana opening the door and pressing five minutes not caring for stirring. Pulling his chopstick box from his waistband thumbing it open to reveal the classically black lacquered sticks his Dancho had gotten him as a gift. Peeling back the plastic film at the corner. 

Picking his sword up Nobunaga began by giving it a swipe of the bloody cloth.’ I’ll have to get another one.’ the swordsmen frowns at the cloth only cleanness are shades of magenta. This room has enough moonlight that I can clean the blade properly. The blade laid on the man’s lap. 

“I knew I should have gone with you instead of watching Shalnark play Dark Souls on his computer.” Uvo walks into the moonlight. Illuminating his giant figure, clothed in fur at his shin, waist and jacket on his shoulders. Sitting while leaning on the wall and munching on a bag of fruit without peeling off the skin. “I smell blood. How much fun did you have without me?” 

The swordsmen did a lopsided smirk as the microwave pinged. Leaning over with his left arm he pushed the door button, dragging the meal out and plopping it on the floor to slide it over. Flickering the door shut, tossing the peeled plastic sheet off and throwing it into the corner where trash collected. “Good amount.” The man tilted his sword to see if he got the excess blood off. Before dapping the clothe with oil to apply. Swiping it firmly along the blade pulling the hilt backwards with his left hand. “How much fun was Dark Souls?”

“Not as much fun as killing someone would be but with our job I don’t have to wait long. The wild haired spiky brunette grins showing off one of his incisors like a fang. Squeezing his hands into a fist as if imaging squeezing someone's skull to burst with it. The swordsmen nods his head in understanding. “You going to eat?” The hairy man points at the microwaved dish eyeing it. Nobunaga done cleaning his sword puts it in its sheath. 

“Yeah otherwise I wouldn’t have heated it up.” Unfolding his legs the swordsmen starts to eat. The larger man stays till he knows he won’t snag food after laughing at Shalnark before leaving. “He keeps losing but he still does it. It cracks me up.”

Left to his own thoughts the swordsmen checks his abdomen and finds it sore his chest is ok he just got the wind knocked out of him. His forearms the worst. ‘I’m kind of interested to be honest but going to the gym probably won’t work. Ask Shalnark to search on his computer? I’m sure he can find what I need. The samurai goes to bed. I’ll wake early on Sunday to start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please and thank you tell me if you find an error so I can fix it. I want to become a better writer


	3. Detained by Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own Hunter x Hunter. This is the disclaimer for the whole work, don't want to retype it all the time.
> 
> 'Thoughts'  
> ''Normal talking''
> 
> Not Beta-ed either.

Sunday morning came with the Kurta lying on his bed getting up to do stretches before his Sunday morning jog. His arm felt better but he decided to use his healing thumb, opting not to do too much because Dana explained Kurapika had an injury, it would be too suspicious if it suddenly disappeared. He would have to let it heal naturally. The blonde promised himself a shower afterward. A bowl of yogurt with crumbled up nature honey bar in it later the blonde was out walking to the nature reservoir, Fox Creek.

The walk over was his warm up. The sun wasn't so bright that he needed sunglasses with his contacts in. The small phone he kept in his front pocket hit against his stomach as he started to jog along the trail. ‘He had a lot of grocery bags. Too much for one person. So he could have some friends. The bags were from next door, Safeway's logo on them. I think he stopped by when he saw the sign. It's possible he was stocking up but I doubt that.’

The blonde shakes his head looking at a few of the trees. ‘I don't think he has a car normally a person would put their bags in the trunk. Then again he did state he didn't want to get rusty so he could have turned it into training if he was hardcore.’

‘I don't think a guy like that would be holding a job for long with his attitude and alcohol habits. To build up such a tolerance then he can still fight after consuming a considerable amount? I would say he's in his twenties with how physically fit he is but that doesn't fit with the tolerance he would of have to start in his teen years which would have led to retardation from the brain damage. The one thing would make sense is, nen.’

‘Someone with his attitude is something I don't like. At least he didn't have traces of blood on him that would be worse. I would still want to check the news for anything.' Birds of a feather flock together. The Kurta narrows his eyes in focus crossing a bridge. ‘I should focus on how to avoid him. With his attitude I'd say places where fights break out have higher probability bars, back shadowed alleys and dojos obviously. Where would a safe place be?

‘I don't recall any car following Dana to my home when she drove. I checked in the side mirrors the whole time back. I'm guessing he's awake for a majority of the day so I should try to avoid him for a while otherwise Leorio will freak out.’

‘I have to come up with something for Gon and Killua when I see them tomorrow since the chance of Leorio telling the two will be very high. Sure, he said he'd act nice but there's no way he'd lie. I'll stay in for the rest of the day and do the same for three days afterward. Maybe I should have a group dinner to ease the anxiety at my house, going to a restaurant could mean running into him and putting my friends in danger.’ Through with his planning until the situation changes the blonde focused on his run, watching the nature around him to give him a dose of calm.

         »»-------------¤-------------««

Nobunaga woke up thinking of a solution he came up with. The swordsmen grinned getting up easier than he'd normally do on another day. Walking to the Shalnark's room to find him asleep.

Normally with Shalnark being so energetic, you wouldn't think he needs a wakeup call but he would go into hibernation if you didn't. Taking off the blankets first he started shaking him, in response the blonde turned over shrugging his arm. Upping the notch he started calling his name but not too loud otherwise he'd cause trouble for himself with the other members.

 Finally, the man’s ready to take it to the extreme in a whisper the samurai started off, "Oh look, here's a cell phone it's so close to my foot that I might just step on - crack. Oops, might as well put it out of its misery so I'll just have to break it in half - crush. "

The blonde moaned in his sleep half-heartedly throwing a punch at the samurai who dodges knowing it's coming.

 Making his voice higher as if to intimate a small child who doesn't understand sticky foodie things **aren't** allowed near computers, "lookie its Shalnark's computer and phone…"

The blonde lurches up so quickly you’d think he’s in an Exorcist movie. "I'm awake." The techie rubs the sleep out of his eyes, turning his head to the ponytail man who's squatting near his bed, "What, do you want?" The blonde pulls his cell phone out of the blanket to check the time automatically. "7: 49 am?" ‘That's early, did Dancho need something and sent Nobunaga to get me?" The blonde focus on waking until there are no more traces of sleep. "What's going on that I need to know about?" 

"I want help with a setup…" the swordsmen explains.

 ‘No problem', the blonde relaxes swinging his legs off of the bed.

"There's someone I want to find and they'll be at a police station soon, after that I'll be good."

The blonde nods to the plan accessing police records through his laptop.

"Do you want me to get you breakfast?" The swordsmen suggest as payment the blonde barely charged anything or at all next to Machi.

"Yeah. I'll take an omelet and a vanilla mocha." The blonde replied to his computer screen as the mustache man left.

 Leaving their base the samurai passes their Dancho reading a book who nods at him.

       »»-------------¤-------------««

The Kurta went to his house after his jog, finding the police at his door. Doing the statement on the incident took an hour at the end with a promise to call when a line up can be done. The blonde then finished off the boring day content to do grading.

Monday called around like it always did but an exception today with a surprise for the blonde fate had made especially for him as he brushed his teeth, contacts, ate breakfast and changed the wound dressing like he learned from watching Leorio do it.

The blonde walked into work, both Gon and Killua were already waiting for him. The blacknet pacing like a mother hen before seeing Kurapika. "Is it true what Leorio said happened Saturday?"

The blonde smiled at the boy's reaction, "yes and I'm ok."

 "The guy hasn't appeared asking for trouble?" The white haired boy has an implied tone is his voice coming out in situations like this.

"No. The cops are working on it, they say this is an isolated event as no similar crimes have occurred in the area." The blonde explained taking the two directly to class as Leorio wasn't there to distract the two.

"You in a pain? I've broken my arm once, it wasn't fun." The blacknet gave worried glances at the Kurta.

“I’m fine. I think you should be worrying about the algebra test today."

The blacknet's eyes go wide dashing off to study. Mito was going to kill him if he got another bad grade on any math test. The white haired boy followed his friend telling him the mnemonics.

Beginning at 8:00 am the class did a lab on types of soils than music on the recorder playing Ode to Joy. Then the math test.

The island boy was so unsure about his knowledge he began by filling in the answers he crammed than his name.

The white haired boy finished and laid his head down on his arms watching his friend. Silently saying the answer to himself, hopefully the boy's mind reading skills are better than his math. It seemed even the Dragon Ball Dragon couldn't grant that. It’s fascinating when Gon’s brain started to fry and his face got red.

The blacknet's on the last question when he looked at Killua to see him shake his head.

‘That's the wrong answer for the last one. Gon it should be forty-two. You got 13 right out of 100.'

The blacknet took it as all his answers were wrong, erasing all the answers he's written so far, threading his fingers into his hair out of panic.

"Two minutes," the blonde lets out a friendly reminder.

The blacknet looked at the blonde then to his test, writing down the abcs.

Kurapika saw Gon's reaction but when he came around to pick up the tests he looked hopefully like he was right. Not having the heart to tell the chatty extrovert abc's were the wrong answer right now. He'll just write a note on Kilua's to help Gon study more at home since the two live together.

 The class phone went off causing the class to get chatty from the distraction. The blonde picked it up "Hello?"

"Is this the teacher Kurapika I'm speaking to?"

"Yes." The blonde cast his eye to the class that's watching giving suggestions "say it's Pizza Hut." Give money to kitties."

"Regarding the event on Saturday, can you come to the police station on Oxford Street?" Shalnark asks starting to form an opinion about the person Nobunaga wanted to meet.

 "I'm working unless I get a replacement it's bad to leave." The blonde frowned. ‘This is unexpected, the officer said they were going to get back to me in days not hours.'

“I can call your employer as you're needed for the lineup," Shalnark added smiling, this was kind of a like a prank call, it's interesting.

"I'll be there in twenty-five minutes." Hanging up the phone and grabbing his cell phone and jacket. Ripping out the notes he made and stashing them in his pocket. "I have to go but another person will come in to teach."

The blonde strode out to his boss's room, knocking before coming in. She was on the phone, catching her eyes she nods closing the door. ‘Well, I guess it's less suspicious now and she knows so I'm not abandoning my duty.'

Starting to jog the blonde reaches the police station. Going to the desk receptionist. "I was called for a lineup, where would I go?"

A blonde police officer comes over after being called by the receptionist. The police officer looked young but he was knowledgeable about the case. "We have five people and need you to distinguish if they look familiar. We'll call them up one by one. You'll be behind a one-way window. So, you'll be able to see them but they won't be able to see you. If you're scared then you can step outside and take a moment," the policeman opens the door allowing Kurapika to go first.

The Kurta began with one, his first impression was hopeful but a quick glance at the men and he knew they were innocent of this crime. Kurapika went through the procedure though to be sure.

 "Who do you think?" The agent smiled turning toward Kurapika. "None of these guys, but number five is the closest to what you're looking for." The blonde points at a man about twenty-six with straight hair in a low ponytail over his right shoulder with dirty hands covered in cuts.

‘She picked the one closest to Nobunaga. Number five is the scapegoat. It's not a problem the police being after us since we could kill them, but this way is a better job. The main person saying it's none of these could be a problem if I didn't have four others say it was him. With the way the legal system works my scapegoat will do a fine job,’ Shalnark schemed. "Thank you for your time." The man opens the door for the girl.

‘She's pretty and I think she's intelligent, but not sure if the silent type would work with Nobunaga.' Shooting a text to the samurai. ‘She's on her way. It was fun in enemy territory :)'. Pushing send, the blonde walked into a restroom to change his clothes, fishing the bag from the tank and ordering the owner to return and act normal.

Nobunaga watched the blonde walk out the lobby from outside the building, trying to look interested in the memorial of people who died in action. Following the blonde who went into a store coming out with a bag then went to a Daycare, where she didn't come out like last time. Thinking this was the actual job the blonde had referred to Nobunaga climbed on top of one of the house roofs nearby, lying on his back to wait.  

Kurapika walked back into the classroom where Mrs. Shriner was reading aloud Swindle to the class on the mats. Everyone stared as the blonde set down the bag on a desk,” I can take over Mrs. Shriner." Kurapika moved to the chair the teacher was sitting in.

“Sure " Holding the page with her thumb until the blonde placed a bookmark.

 "The bag has candy for the kids but only if they were good while I was gone,” Kurapika states quelling their curiosity. The class understanding candy was at stake protested they were good. After each child was given a piece Kurapika opened the book. "Let's pick up where you left off.”

Sierrna blurted "Why'd you leave?" The class jumping on board with a mob mentality. "Ohh, were you in trouble?"

"It was citizen duties calling me." ‘I don't think I should say police because of how that'll get paraphrased to their parents. Finishing the rest of school with English and government.

Killua and Gon came to Kurapika's desk. Kurapika explained before they'd ask." The call was to have me come down to the police station to do a lineup. Which is good they're working on the case."

The blacknet perks up, "They caught the guy? Good, now he won't be hurting anyone else."

"They're in the process."

"You can have another piece of candy since you got a hundred percent on your math test Killlua," the blonde touched the bag with his red pen.

 "What did I get?" The blacknet leans on the desk to get a higher view on the graded test.

The blonde smiled, "studying. I'm guessing it was a mistake when you put the abc's but I can't have you retake it if you don't know the answers. So, while in class today I came up with tricks for you."

 The blacknet looked bum but got his notebook. "I was sure I got some answers, chance is fifty fifty." The boy sits in one of the desks near the white board.

A boy in the back snickers at the sight Killua sending a glare in his direction to shut the guy up. He quickly left the room. Killua smiled at this taking a seat across from Gon.

 "We'll begin with six times six equals thirty-six. How I want you to remember this is starting off with the six." Kurapika covered the three looking at Gon to make sure he was done with his notes. "How many sixes are there?

"3," the twelve-year-old replies.

"What is the number not covered?”

"6."

 “Now put them together."

 "36!" The boy declared louder than before.

"This allows you to attach the problem to the answer. It won't work so well for division but we're working on multiplication now. Repeat the process in your head until you think you've got it."

The islander boy nods.

 "I've printed out a worksheet for you to do at home.” The blonde writes on the board some steps in red marker. "Tell me what step I missed." Handing the marker to the blacknet who starts writing the problem as he remembers it.

Comparing the two and circling a piece and pointing at it with an arrow where it should go.

 "Good job. When you've gotten them all correct once the problems going to be out of order. You have to do half before dinner tonight."

The blacknet scrambles to work.

The blonde goes to Mrs. Shriners' office knocking on the door.

 "Come in."

"Is there anything else you need regarding today?" The blonde takes a seat in one of the two chairs facing the desk.

"You're good, but I did talk about getting a sub if problems arise, but to think you were attacked!" The brunette covers her mouth upset. "You're such a nice person. I'm glad it worked out alright and we didn't lose one of our best teachers. "

"It's fine. I won't need any sick days to recover I think," the blonde leaves closing the door softly behind him.

 Mrs. Shriner thinks, ‘I should give him a raise.'

The Kurta walks into his classroom through the shadowy hallway, lights turned off to find Gon's thank you note on the board followed by a heart colored in red. Smiling he erases it, ‘I wouldn't want the kids to tease him tomorrow. At least today was better than I thought.' Yawning while he covers his mouth the blonde grabs his messenger bag slinging it onto his right shoulder.

Outside the cool air is refreshing, the blonde smiled stretching neck. Holding the railing as he went down the modified building cement steps and pillars. When something felt off. ‘There's something out here that's not supposed to be here. I'll play it safe.' The blonde's mind spins logic as his pulse quickened. Throwing his hands in the air as if he was being silly the Kurta said, "Dang it! I forgot something." Turning around to go back inside and get a better vantage point from the second floor.

"Please don't go inside. I've been waiting a long time." A man's voice calls from the right, not seeing the figure until he stepped out further from the pillar.

The blonde gasped reaching for his phone with his hand. ‘I don't have weapons on me, they're bad to bring to work. Did he plan this?!' Kurapika thinks.

"I came to talk." The swordsman says, staying still. ‘I guess I can't blame her for being suspicious it's my fault.' The swordsman scratches his head.

 "What do you want to talk about?" The blonde demands. ‘I could try leading him closer so the lobby's camera has a chance to see him, but maybe he did come here to talk. I don't see his sword case but it could be behind the pillar. I want to keep my distance.'  The blonde leaned to his right to see past the man.

The ponytail man takes a step up the staircase angling his body away from the light to let the blonde see what she wanted. "We got off on the wrong foot and I wanted to make amends."

"How were you planning that?" The blonde narrows his eyes at the man, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I want you to go to a bar with me," the ponytail man answers.

"Where's the bar?" The Kurta interrogates. ‘Getting an enemy disabled is a key to victory' the blonde acknowledges in his head.

"It's at thirty second and Washington."

‘I can't tell if he's making the place up.' "What's nearby?"

The swordsman raises an eyebrow at the question.' We're going to the bar, not a place nearby.' "A Conoco gas station."

Kurapika digest the information, ‘he seems to have good intentions but the _make amends_ part is too hard to swallow. His personality doesn't match. Sparring partners maybe but make amends no. The idea of having him as a sparring partner had the blonde looking the other up and down. It'd be good training I could use to get back the clansman's eyes but then he would ask why I train so hard and that's where help becomes deadly. A sword is a common weapon, one of the Spiders at least should use one.'

Nobunaga watches the pretty girl bite her lip a little as she tilts her head looking at him. ‘Is she checking me out?'

Kurapika spoke, "What do you get out of making amends?"

 The samurai was waiting for that question knowing the girl would ask it, "it sits wrong with me us not getting along."

The blonde frowns, ‘well I guess that decides it,' holding up his hand the Kurta replies, ‘’I'm sorry but that doesn't interest me. If the two of us stay away from each other then we'll also be on a good foot versus bad like you want." The blonde turns to go back inside. ‘It'll be easier to call the police and find a weapon. Generally it's a better option.'

Nobunaga feels his chance slipping away. Blindsided by the leave each other alone option, he was so focused on coming up with a reason for the blonde to come  with him. Reaching out the swordsmen went to stop her, knowing it would get sticky but better than her going inside. Finding her frozen looking into the building at what seemed like two kids approaching the door.

‘Gon and Killua! I forgot they were here. They're walking into danger unknowingly. I can't fail I want to keep them safe. The image of Pario in a wheel chair because of him flashes unwelcomed into his mind.' Kurapika turned toward the samurai noticing he was a lot closer. The rail is the only thing separating the two.

Nobunaga looked at the women with so many emotions on her face but primarily fear. ‘Is she scared of those two? The swordsman frowns glanceing at the two figures going to remove his sword from his shoulder but remembering it wasn't there.

Kurapika sees the man look at the two friends narrowing his eyes.' Is he going after them?' The blonde screamed internally. Grabbing one of his arms the blonde asks, "Can we go to the damn bar?"

The swordsmen eyes widen at the sudden request and mood change. Taking his changed luck and the fact being around the two seemed to upset her he said, "Yeah."

The two walk down the stairs together and out of sight before the two boys reached the doors.


	4. Sharing is Caring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'thinking'  
> "talking"

Nobunaga looked back over his shoulder, placing his free arm on the small of her back. The two walked in silence, with Kurapika scolding himself. ‘I’m in the rabbit hole without a rope to get out. If I’m going to a bar, then there should be other people. This town doesn’t have seedy places compared to others, if he’s really taking me to a bar.’ The Kurta glanced at the man, catching him looking. The swordsman looked away first.

‘She’s doing better if she’s sending suspicious glances my way. She's got a poker face. I’ll ask to make sure.’ The swordsmen thought to himself. 

“Feeling better? you looked sick back there.”

Jumping, the blonde answered with a “yeah”. He wasn’t used to having his thoughts interrupted. ‘I suppose someone with his said intentions would say that, but actions speak louder than words. He could easily be lying.’ The blonde felt a hand touching his back, taking his attention away from what he wanted to do next. Craning his neck to look over his left shoulder, Kurapika saw the swordsman’s hand on his back. He kept staring at the arm in hopes that he would remove it. He did.

‘She doesn’t like that kind of stuff, eh?. Makes sense with how she acts so independently.’

The Kurta watched the arm move from the middle of his back. The blonde breaks the silence.

“Can you stop for a second?” Kurapika looks at the swordsman who stopped as well. “Hold your arms out to your sides.” 

Nobunaga did, watching the blonde carefully to understand what she’s up to. The blonde started with the hand closest to her, running her fingers along the front and back. Nobunaga throws his head back laughing. ‘Oh yeah, she’s feeling better if she’s doing patting me down.’ 

The blonde stops. Staring at the man, brows knit together.

“What’s funny?” The blonde asked after the swordsman's eyes made contact with his own.

“I don’t have weapons. I left my sword behind. “

The blonde frowns continuing his search onto the other arm, front and back. “You could have a knife, taser or a bomb. Shoe laces and lanyards can be used to strangle someone in a pinch. A whip can be hidden in the belt. I mean in the Hunger Games, there was a diamond ring that twisted and released a poisoned ring spike.” The Kurta rambles on, pulling out the Samurai's pockets. 

“Popular culture gets copied after a while. You could have a collapsible bokken attached to your leg.” 

Nobunaga lets the blonde put his phone back into his right pocket. ‘That’s kind of hot … I got to admit.’ the swordsmen thinks. “We should take a left the next chance we get.” 

The blonde slows his stride, remembering the sword users supposed to lead, not him. Looking back at him until they walked side by side, with Kurapika on the left. 

“You walk fast for someone with small legs.” Nobunaga looks at the blonde. 

“I’m used to walking fast considering there are things needed to be done in the day,” Kurapika explained. Nobunaga nodded his head. ‘ I can see Uvogin making jokes about my love interests.’ 

The silence continued its reign. ‘She reminds me of Machi with how she gives the silent treatment unless needed otherwise. Gives her a tough cookie appeal. “You’re not going to ask me anything?” .

Kurapika looks at the samurai with a frown.

“You’re really so open to the sharing of information?” The blonde asked, not wanting to play twenty questions with this suspicious man. ‘At least Gon and Killua’s house is in the complete opposite direction from where I’m going, but we’ll have pass Leorio’s house. He should be out right now though.

“Yeah.” The samurai answers quickly, surely not having given it much thought.

The blonde blinks, double checking to examine if that's what he really meant. ‘I guess it does…’ the blonde came to the conclusion. ‘ That means he believes he can kill me in an ambush or a fight on his own or with his allies. Or, he wants to make amends but knowing information about each other would be more long term. Maybe another meet up after this. I’ll take the opportunity to question him and deflect the questions he asks me. Or I could crappy answers.’ 

The ponytailed man watches the blonde tilt her head as she thinks. ‘She shows her neck off when she thinks like a little bobble head. It’s a nice neck actually.’ 

“I want to know how you learned to use a sword.” The blonde purposely made sure to ask this question first, knowing it’d give a large amount of valuable information. 

“There’s a lot of swords in our culture actually, and it’s useful to know how to defend yourself. What about you?” 

“It looked pretty interesting so I wanted to learn how to use it.” The blonde replied. 

“Do you prefer researching the internet to get information or books? I get the feeling that you’re a walking encyclopedia.” 

“I prefer books because they’re easier to go back to and reference for accuracy. The internet could be changed a few times over before you even go back to the page.” The blonde moved his hand to emphasize his point but quickly drew it back to his side and looked ahead, realizing he started to open up and give more information than he wanted to. He wasn’t about to risk losing the advantage he had just gained.

Nobunaga smiled at the reaction ‘Good place to start. I could get some suggestions from Danchou.’ Pursuing the topic, he continued to ask.

“What’s you’re favorite book?” Nobunaga questions, more energy in his voice. 

The blonde immediately starts tilting her head around like it’s on a swivel. Crossing her arms in front of her chest. The two walk till they’re on Thirty-second Street, but the blonde is still deep in thought. 

Nobunaga eventually asks her after he starts to think she’s acting extravagantly in hopes of not talking  to him. But a part of him told him that was her objective. 

“I’m still waiting for you to tell me your favorite book.” Nobunaga narrowed his eyes and frowned, a small huff coming out at the end.

The blonde sighed, and holded up a finger. “I think the Breakfast Club is a good book. I like how it could connect with the teenage brain on a level of sympathy. It casts a wide net with five different main characters but the character development is better than most books. Usually, characters aren’t expressed in depth well individually in most books. But you examine the characters with intensity as well as their stereotypes. In reality, this actually draws the information in the reader’s mind. The author gives more detail this way and avoids the stereotypical jock bullying a nerd that makes a reader sigh. Speaking on that, the idea of Saturday school is a refreshing setting versus all the dystopian books coming out. Yes there are some good books with that setting but it’s just not the same. I can agree when the action and plot are done well. They’re fantastic, spectacular even, but I prefer books with an intrinsic factor. I think it’s refreshing. “

“But the ‘Future Manifesto’ created by Filipino Toni Mcallister is interesting in its contexts. Promoting war before the Second World War happened. It takes an opinionated look at how wars can be viewed positively. And also the steps governments use to manipulate citizens using propaganda and nativism to get them rallied for war. Many interesting conclusions can be drawn. But it primarily represents art so it could be harder to compare it to the Breakfast Club. I don’t know. I suppose criteria would be nice to help judge. Since I still have quite a few more.” The blonde holds up both hands trying to count the books. Looking at the samurai for suggestions, he instead sees him staring with his mouth slack.

‘Wow … is that how she always explains things? I’m going to get lost.’ Nobunaga tries to think of something to say that won’t make him look like a novice idiot , but Kurapika takes the samurai's silence as a bad sign. 

Kurapika shook his head and blushed. “Forget it. I like books and it’s extremely hard to pick my favorite. There’s a lot of books I haven’t read so my ‘favorite’ tends to change.” The Kurta nervously twists his shirt with his hands, blushing more. He ducks his head in attempt to hide himself for the man’s gaze and dies a little inside. ‘Why did have to ramble on like that?! So embarrassing. Like a kid showing a rock to an adult, it just rushed out.’ The blonde scolded himself. 

Nobunaga patted the blonde’s shoulders. ‘‘I wanted you to talk so it’s not a problem but I don’t think I’m going to be interested in that kind of stuff for chit chat.’ The samurai quickly says, “Let’s hurry to the bar, we’ll definitely have something else to talk about.” 

Kurapika nods at his feet, marching off a dust of blush still on his cheeks. ‘Ugh, I don’t ever want to do that again’, mentally facepalming himself.  Nobunaga holds the door for Kurapika to walk in.

“Booth or bar stool?” The samurai asked.” I guess bar works. I think it’d feel nice to be able to relax on something with cushions.”  The ponytail man lead the way to an empty booth almost directly across from the door, weaving between the high tables.

Kurapika slides in on the left while the katana user sits on the right side. A waitress comes immediately, setting down two menus in front of each them. 

“Hi, my name's Rebecca. I’ll give you time to think about your order.” The redhead zooms off with her tray of drinks and empty glasses. 

“What’re you getting?” The swordsman scans for beer. 

“Water.” The blonde replies extending his arm to put the menu near the end of the table so it's easier to pick up for the waitress.

“You're at a bar, you can get water anywhere.” The mustached man flips his menu around sliding it over to the blonde, staring at her until she starts looking at it. 

“Truthfully I’m starving. I didn’t eat while I was keeping watch earlier. The wings look good but they don’t have the honey hickory I like. I guess I’ll go with straight barbeque.” The samurai looks up to have found the waitress walking towards them..

Feeling eyes on him, Kurapika answered “I’m getting Sprite. I don’t want to spend much money.”  

“I mean alcohol. I'm buying since I’m getting a meal, I insist that you do as well. I’m not going to sit eating while you don’t.” ‘I’m guessing without something to do you’ll get antsy to leave.’ 

The blonde picks up the menu looking for the cheapest thing. ‘Nachos at $8.99, excluding extra toppings.’ 

Rebecca came back. “Ready to order?” 

Nobunaga nods his head for the blonde to go first. “Sprite and nachos, no toppings.” Writing it down, the waitress points her pen at the samurai. “ You?”

“I’ll have the honey hickory wings and a Budweiser.” Picking up the menus, the waitress leaves.

“I thought I asked you to order alcohol.” Nobunaga pounces on the other.

“I don’t like alcohol. Would you buy or drink something you don’t like?” the blonde retaliates. 

“No, but why did you get the cheapest thing?” 

Kurapika moves to get more comfortable in his seat. “Sauce is hard to get out of my clothes. So I don’t like sauce on anything really, but cheese is ok. There’s not much nutritional value and vitamins when it comes to the food here. I want a snack that won’t ruin my appetite because when I go home, I’ll have some fruits and vegetable for a more balanced diet. Grains and the tortilla chips are good, and they take time to break down. “The blonde answers. 

The ponytail man starts shaking his head slowly, letting out a huff. 

Unfortunately for Nobunaga, Kurapika misunderstood the shaking of Nobunaga’s head as a “no” and launched into explanation.

“Starting with the grain in its unsat--” Kurapika stops seeing the swordsmen hold up his left arm.

“I don’t want to hear more. You're definitely getting alcohol. You’re stiff.” The samurai looks over his shoulder trying to spot the waitress, he raised his right arm to wave her over when he found her. 

Kurapika stares in horror at the guy. ‘He’s rowdy when drunk, violent too. And I’m a lightweight, buzzed only on one can. There is definitely no need for any alcoholic beverages over here.’ Reaching over the table, Kurapika grabs the alcohol lovers arm with his hands, yanking it down.

“I insist, I don’t need alcohol. You complained about the Sprite so I got nachos. I should be fine.” the blonde hissed. 

“You need to relax, this isn’t a debate. Your comments shouldn’t be long.” 

“Fine, if I don’t do that will you knock it off? And don’t complain when I give shorter answers.” 

Nobunaga turns around and the blonde lets go of his arm so he can slide it back onto his lap.

“You have to eat all the nachos though.” 

“I intend to.” the blonde nods. ‘ Now’s when the negotiations of boundaries happens. I got to stick him with a rule so this night doesn’t get any more - awkward, strange, horrendous or all three, then what it is already. “You’re only allowed the one beer.”

The samurai turns his head sharply at the blonde. “Don’t be a buzzkill to me too. What’s a little alcohol going to do?” Seeing the blonde’s doubtful face the swordsmen answers his own question enunciating the words. 

“It’s going to make the night fun.” The sword user props his head on his palm, leaning on his elbow facing only partly toward the blonde. 

“You mean to lose all better judgment and got hauled to jail by the cops?”.

Nobunaga grins, “that’s when you kick their ass and leave.” The samurai points a finger at the bokken user. 

‘’You’ve made it a pass time to have incidents like at the dojo. I’m so honored to have met a senpai in the skill.” The blonde looks anything but thrilled though. 

“I haven’t made a pastime to almost get caught by the police. I don’t get caught. Anyway, no crime’s committed if no one finds out.” The samurai summarizes. 

“So, you're talking about it in public…?” The blonde raises an eyebrow, his body physically moving back in reaction. 

Rebecca interrupts, placing Nobunaga's drink in front of him.

“Here you go.” Then putting Sprite in front of the Kurta before scrambling off. 

“I’m no idiot. Nobody’s sitting near us. Losing your better judgment means hearing too.” 

The blonde looks around to inspect, only spotting empty seats and many older gentleman most likely using hearing aids. Twenty to thirty-year-olds were playing pool, ignoring their background in favour of the game. 

“Fine.” Kurapika conceded turning to see the swordsman chugging his beer before slamming it down. His hand shoots up and Rebecca comes over immediately.

“Another?” After surveying the table.

“Yeah and… ” The man looks to Kurapika trying to figure what alcohol would be best because she won’t tell him. Vodkas, beer, mariquita - oh that one!’

Rebeca takes the look as a prompt to ask the blonde if she needed anything.

“I’m good with my sprite,” taking a sip of it. Kurapika narrows his eyes when he hears the  ponytailed man ordering a martini marcian style. ‘Why not just another beer? If he likes beer. Oh wait, I think that’s for me.’ The blonde gives Nobunaga his best glare.

“I didn’t think you like martinis” he shared.

“I don’t. It’s for you. The beers for me as a victory drink for winning our earlier argument. You know, you’re really argumentative.” 

Kurapika opened his mouth to protest, watching the smile on the older man’s face get bigger. Instead, the blonde took a drink from his Sprite before putting the glass down. 

“I told you, I don't like alcohol.” The Kurta emphasized the sentence. 

The swordsman’s mood sobered up a little and his smile faltered. “I was debating about your taste when I ordered.” The swordsman offers, his elbows on the table criss crossed in front of him as he leaned forward. 

‘Sincerely saying the words or at least trying to act sincere and innocent’ the blonde thinks. Crossing his arms over his chest he says, “Obviously you didn’t think hard enough” The blonde scowled slightly. Silence took over as the two didn’t know what to say.

The samurai glanced over his shoulder to see Rebecca coming with their drinks and food. 

The blonde felt a little childish. He wasn’t some kid, pettily using the silent treatment. Blushing, he fidgeted in his seat. Only moving his eyeballs to look at the other staring off into space, attempting to converse. ‘But once you do. It might become even more awkward to break, better to stay quiet. Or just leave. I could take the nachos to go and eat on my walk home. Hopefully alone and at peace. This amends thing was off from the start. How did he even find me in the first place?’ The blonde stops thinking, feeling a headaches coming. He was more prone to getting them recently. But seeing the waitress coming back with food made the day care teacher happier.

The employee put down the beer and wings in front of the trouble maker and nachos in front of the blonde, who gave a small  “thank you” before Rebecca put down the martini.

“You're welcome”. We ran out of beer on tap because of a large group of customers. Is Bud Light in a can fine with you?” Rebecca asked the swordsman.

“Yeah.” 

The blonde stared at the red colored drink, twisting the glass around at the bottom to observe a little red cherry at the bottom.

“Why did she give this to me? You ordered it.” The blonde looks at the drink then at the samurai.

Pulling up his sleeves to his biceps the swordsmen returns the drink. “I got that for you since you like fruits and vegetables.” 

The blonde left the drink and instead focused on his nachos instead. ‘No way with a headache brewing. I don’t want one in the morning.’ The blonde took a bite, narrowing his eyes at the drink. Anyways,  if I have alcohol I’d rather it be the beer, with the martini he can track my progress because of the glass but the can I can fake drink.’ 

Not seeing the blonde drink the alcohol was making the samurai bite harder into the wings than he needed to.

The blonde feels the other man starting to want to screw nails in his head with his eyes. ‘He’s not going give up easily. I still think it’s rude of him to push so persistently but these things got to cost seven dollars each. Maybe I’ll help split the bill.’ 

Reaching his left arm over, Kurapika stole Nobunaga’s beer and opened it before taking a long drink from it. Setting it down on his side of the table, he went back to his nachos.

Nobunaga looked back and forth between the girl and his beer. ‘I thought she’d like the other drink better. I guess she’s not done surprising me yet.’ An idea crossed his mind. ‘Could do the trick or backfire but I think it’ll help more than not. I got a good feeling about this.

“Hey that's mine”, Nobunaga pointed at the beer, playfully acting concerned and unhappy about it stolen. 

The blonde smiled, picking up the martini and placing it in front of the complainer.

“THIS is yours.” 

The samurai reached to steal back his drink. 

The blonde stopped him by picking up the can and taking a drink. “Excuse me, this is my drink.” The blonde retaliated in mock anger holding it higher so he couldn't’ reach it.

“It’s mine because I ordered it.” Nobunaga started to get out of his seat to get it, playing cat and mouse. But Kurapika started chugging the beer to finish it off. Swallowing extra saliva. The can’s still full as he sets it down at his end of the table near the condiments.

“All gone.” The blonde basically chirped out, looking at the swordsman smirking. 

“Now if I remember, you said” pointing at the beer drinker “the beer was yours because you ordered it? You also ordered the martini so that's yours too.”

While it wasn’t ideal for the swordsman to drink alcohol, it’s better than Kurapika. The blonde changed his plan after he heard they were low on beer. No beer means no drunk, problem-causing Nobunaga. He obviously had more tolerance so one beer and one martini shouldn't get him violent, probably around six or more beers. Though the plan has holes,’ the blonde thought.

Nobunaga sat down and grabbed the martini, taking a swing.

“That’s taking it to another level.” 

The blonde crunches on another nacho chip. “What happened to me being competitive?”

The samurai laughs slapping his thigh. “Nothing happened to it if you're playing what you are”. He finished his third wing, then gulped down the martini before his lips touched the cherry. Picking it up by the stem, the swordsmen placed it in the nacho basket of the other. 

Kurapika picked up the fruit to pop it in his mouth, the sweetness over taking the alcohol clinging to the red flesh. Finishing it off with a few chews, the blonde put the stem to the side. 

“That’s not what you do to the stem.” The ponytail man states. “The cherry is added for a game.” 

The blonde’s not sure if this is bad or good, but leaning toward bad from experience with Leorio and his drinking games. Kurapika decided to say nothing and wait for an answer instead. 

“You’re supposed to tie the cherry stem in a knot in your mouth.” 

“Oh.” The blonde stored the extra knowledge in his head, going back to eating his nachos. 

The other man picked up the stem, offering it more insistently. 

The blonde finished chewing the nachos and took the stem, popping it into his mouth. 

‘First, you're going to have to bend it a little so it won't bounce back when you tie it then you’ll need two places to basically pull like a shoelace. Chew on it to soften it but don’t break it’.

Biting down on one end, the blonde used his tongue to fold it in half, almost creating the start of a loop. He pushed his lower jaw forward so when the stem springs back, the blonde won’t return to square one. Rolling his tongue under the stem took a little time to get right and into the loop.

Feeling the knot to make sure he’s got it. ‘It’s pretty loose.’ Near the front of his incisors the blonde bites on both ends, pulling the middle back by touching his tongue to the top of roof of his mouth. ’Good.’ Reaching into his mouth with his left fingers he pulls out the knotted cherry stem. Presenting it to the beer drinker. 

“Oh.” The mustache man nods approval. “Took you a minute and two seconds. Have you tied stems before?” 

“No that was my first time. Seems like an advertisement gig to get people to buy cherries when they're not needed.” The blonde was nearly done with his nachos when the trouble maker flagged down the waitress.

“Another martini. And doo you have any more beer?” 

“No we don’t but the martini’s coming.”

Kurapika nearly choked on his food in attempt to reach out for the girl to wait.

“Huh? I don’t want--” the waitress skipped off before he had time to finish his sentence. 

Turning an annoyed gaze to the other, Kurapika said “I don’t want one.” But he sighed, knowing he was fighting in a losing battle. This guy’s like Gon, once he gets an idea he goes with it even if if all the odds are against him.. 

“It’s another victory drink for tying the cherry kno. And because I want to see you do it again.”  

“I’m not drinking it.”  

“Come on, you drank my beer.” Nobunaga brings up. 

“That’s beer and I like that sometimes. “

“Have you even tried a martini?” 

“Yeah.” The blonde answered. 

The samurai narrowed his eyes at the girl, attempting to make her break under his glare. 

“I really doubt that. Didn’t you say you don’t drink alcohol. What made you drink it?” 

“Pushy people who won’t leave me alone and have my phone number to give me grief no matter what place or time.” The blonde placed his last nacho in the empty basket at the end of the table. 

‘Maybe if I keep pushing…’ Nobunaga believed he understood how to get what he wanted. 

“Won’t you try at least?” 

“Won’t you at least give up?” The blonde spits back out using his same structure to make a point. 

“Just wet your lips and then I’ll drink the rest.”

“I have my sprite to finish off.” The blonde takes a bigger drink of the soda. 

“I promise to leave it at that.” The sword user proposes. ‘I can’t push my luck too far, but I wan tto see her do it’. 

The blonde starts=ed analyzing the proposal after Nobunaga’s promise. ‘He’s changing his tactics to get what he wants. I might not be able to figure out what’s going on in his head right now but I can work on that later with the information from tonight. If he does anything else that I don’t like I’ll leave.’ Having made up his mind Kurapika warned him.

“I’ll hold you to that or else.” 

Nobunaga focused on the ‘or else’ part weighing it against his idea and thinking it won’t be a problem. The blonde’s eaten the cherry and beer pretty easily. But I think it’s a bluff.’

Rebecca came by with the last drink and placed it in front of Kurapika. 

“Tell me when you two are ready to leave.” Picking up the trash, she eyed the beer but thought it’d be rude to reach over and take it. So she left it instead. 

The Kurta brought  it up to his lips slowly, flickering his eyes between the red liquid and the pushy man. Taking a small sip, he saw the man move and felt more  liquid entering his mouth then he would have prefered. Bringing the glass down, he realized he swallowed too much. But least he didn’t choke. ‘Ugh, there’s an aftertaste.’ The blonde scrunched up his nose, looking for something better. Grabbing sugar from the condiments and ripping the bag open, He added the sugar to his Sprite. ‘Alcohol has such a horrible taste. I’ll never get used to it.’ 

Nobunaga threw his head back in laughter, his breaths wheezing out. When he almost got a hold of himself he saw the blonde eye two packages of sugar nearby.

Kurapika blushed at the attention they got from the rest of the customers. Glaring at the laughing man for the chagrin, he purposely kicked him under the table. 

“Knock it off people are staring!” Kurapika hissed in a whisper. He leaned over the table, his manners getting the better of him. The blonde pushed his hair behind his left ear before he left for the bathroom. ‘I need room to breathe.’ 

In the restroom, the Kurta looked at the stain on the blue cloth, finding that his top’s upper layer was the only area wet. Grabbing towels, he started getting as much moisture as possible. ‘When I get home I have to text Leorio for his Scrubba Dub stain stick. If it removes blood, then alcohol shouldn’t be impossible. I’m a little worried the dyes could come off since the shirt is pretty  old.’ Frowning at the stain. ‘Well, at least I don’t have to be considerate of that guy. Nope. Not guilty at all for making order all those drinks. nevermind the bill either.’ Kurapika threw the towel away. Striding out of the bathroom. 

The guy smiled when he saw Kurapika run away from his earlier laughter then come back. Picking up a little too late on the upset vibes, he only realized them when the blonde slung his messenger bag over his shoulder. “What are you doing? You still have to--” 

The blonde was turning around when he heard the phrase ‘you still have to’ striking a cord to make the blonde turn around to correct the man. “I still have to go home and get some sleep as tonight’s a school night.” Nobunaga watched the girl start making her way to the door. Downing the martini and getting up to follow her outside. ‘Such a stiff. I could’ve sworn she was loosening up before. Now she looks like a recoiling rattlesnake. Does she have a problem with relaxing?’ Getting out of the booth, he quickly started walking to the door to follow her.

But unfortunately for him, Rebecca rushed up to him before he made it to the door. “Sir, you can’t leave without paying your tab. And I don’t think you should go after her right now.” She whispered the last part as she blocked his way. 

Nobunaga debated to stroll out and have a bunch of staff tail after his unpaid bill, but decided against it in the end. I’d rather have a quiet talk with her than this chase.’ Reaching for his wallet, he pulled out a few bills, handing them to the redhead and putting the wallet in his back pocket as he left the building. 

‘Now where did she go?’. The thief kept glancing left and right, searching for a certain blonde head. When he finally found her, she was further away than he expected. He started to increase his strides to catch up with her, now remembering that she was a fast walker.

The blonde heard a pair of footsteps behind. The street lights didn’t expose anyone’s shadow, nobody was there. Turning around, he saw the swordsman silently following him. Letting out a huff, the Kurta kept walking forward, ignoring the other’s footsteps  until he reached a pedestrian stoplight.

When he stopped walking, so did the figure behind him. 

“Are you going to follow me home?”

“Maybe, but I maybe I should let you cool off. You don’t look like you’re in a mood.”

The opposite street light turned yellow, drawing the blonde’s attention. “I suppose you can say that.”  

‘Yep, she’s more hostile right now.’ The swordsman looked at the blonde trying to come up with a way to start the conversation without having a scowl returned from the blonde.

Kurapika wanted to rant off to the clumsy glass spiller, but he waited for him to speak. Enough was enough though when they had crossed a few streets in silence. ‘I have to finish this.’ The blonde decided to dive in head first. 

“What do you want to talk about?” The question came out in huff, but in a tone that demanded answers.

“I want your number.” 

Kurapika stilled for a split second before looking back at the man. ‘I know he’s smart and capable, so why does he let things like that slip out? 

“I’m not comfortable giving you my number.” The blonde replied.

‘’Figured you'd say that.” The swordsman looked starry night sky .

‘‘Then why ask?’’ The blonde asked in annoyance.

“When should I stop by your work?” 

The blonde turned his head toward the sword user, hoping that it was some sick prank. No wrinkles around the eyes, no lip twitching, he wasn’t joking.

“I don’t think you should visit me at my work.” 

“We’re playing the leave each other alone card. I told you before - it doesn’t work for me.” The swordsman said as he messed around with the  phone inside his pocket. 

“Well, it’ll have to work because tonight was not enjoyable.” The blonde huffed out in a rush. His voice was raised as he remembered his last drink, the event that turned the night awful. 

‘I should have stuck to books. Is she on her period? That would make sense … but I shouldn't  ask. ’ Nobunaga decided to talk about something else. 

“I tried to pick a place you’d like.” The mustached man replied.

The blonde frowned unhappily at the answer. “What I mean is what are you doing? Why take me to a bar then pay for my drinks?” Kurapika wanted actual answers, his headache was getting painful and he wasn’t about to chase after Nobu’s answers like cat and mouse.

Nobunaga thought about talking about amends and sticking to his story. But she seemed like she didn’t want to hear the real reason and would swing at any answer she didn’t quite like. Oh well, he hoped being honest was the right thing to do in this situation.

“I wanted to make amends.”

Kurapika didn’t wait to respond to bullshit answer. “No. You’re not. You're looking for something that will last longer. You’ve asked for my number for a follow up date.” Stepping closer while pointing a finger at the man’s chest. “Are you looking for sparring partners or friends?”

Nobunaga smiled at the first reason. ‘Definitely sounds like something this competitive girl would say. I suppose telling her my real intentions should wait for later.

“Sounds accurate.” The samurai nodded his head with a faint smile on his lips. 

Backing away in surprise, the blonde blinked at the man who seemed to be telling the truth. “I’m not telling you my name” The blonde declared

“Oh, that’s right, we don’t know each other’s names”. The man declared. ‘I can’t believe I forgot to introduce myself’. 

“ I’m Nobunaga.” The swordsman smiled offering his hand to shake. 

The blonde looks at the hand, then back at Nobunaga. 

“I’m leave me alone.” 

“Your full name? That’s quite a mouthful.” 

“I’m not done interrogating you. How did you find me?” The blonde demanded, scowling at the man. Almost ready to march home indignantly, but quickly threw away the thought with Nobunaga’s answer. 

“I could tell you that for the price of a first name.”

The blonde was thinking about the offer as the waiting swordsman stared at him. ‘It’s possible I might be able to use this trick on one a possible Spider to find their hideout. Now that’s worth a first name.’ 

“Kurapika”. ‘No last name is still the rule’, he mentally added in his head. 

The swordsman tried to roll the name on his tongue . Deciding he liked blonde’s strange name. He offered  his hand further out until it was poking the blonde, which forced her to shake it awkwardly with her left. 

“How’d you find me?” Kurapika repeated his previously unanswered question.

Grinning ,the samurai answered.“You know that call you got from the police telling you to come in for a lineup today?” 

The blonde’s eyes widen, mouth dropping open.  ‘I should have gone with my gut feeling, it was too suspicious.’ The blonde frowned. ‘I can’t use tricks on the spiders, there’s no way they’re work. Not even on this clumsy samurai.’ 

“Did the blonde police officer help you?” 

“Yeah, he’s my friend.” The man laughed more. “I didn’t know you were left handed when we fought -” A light bulb of remembrance went off in the ponytailed man's head, he re-winded his memories to confirm which shoulder he wounded. “I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot.” Eyeing the blonde’s shoulder, wanting to prod at it to see the extent of damage and possible something else as an image flashed in his mind of exposed skin and kisses. 

“Wrong foot, wrong shoulder, wrong place - It doesn't’ matter where this started since I truly don’t want it to continue.” Turning around, he left without the swordsman following him this time. 

‘If it’s permanent damage, I could see why she would be furious but Machi can sew her up. I just need to knock her out and carry her back. Here goes nothing.’

”Kuraprika!” 

The blonde looked over his left shoulder, stopping when heard his name being called. 

The swordsman was surprised at how easy he got used to using the name. What equally surprised him was how she gave her real name instead of a fake one. Smiling at the thought and breathing a sigh of relief. 

The Kurta blushed at the strange handsome smile on Nobunaga’s face ‘That’s … not normal. What the heck was that?!’ The blonde turned away from the other man, trying to gather his thoughts.

Seeing an opening, the swordsman went for it. Ad the blonde brought out her phone with her right hand, she typed something in. Stopping right behind her and using his height to look over her shoulder to look at her screen.

“What are you typing in?”

The blonde slammed the phone to her chest like it was a defibrillator paddle and she had a cardiac arrest.

“Nothing! I was just looking something up.” The blond turned around, shoving the phone into a jacket pocket. 

The mustached man reached out, touching her shoulder with warm hands.

The blonde looked at the arm, waiting for it to move. When it didn’t, he forcefully removed it.

“I was just checking if your shoulder’s alright.” The swordsman stated. ‘That and your hair smells kind of nice. And you just game another idea.’ 

“Yeah it’s still healing, and I have to take it easy.” The blonde eyed the shoulder. “Is that all you needed to do before we part ways?”

‘I got to get her in a debt first, that’s a good way to negotiate with her.’ “My last name’s Hazama.” 

The blonde instantly fired back. “I don’t need to know your last name,” his eyes hardening. 

“I wanted to tell you so possibly--” 

“No.” Kurapika cut the swordsman’s words, glaring at him until he dropped it. “My last name just causes trouble.” 

“Can I have something else in return since you didn’t give me your last name?” 

The bokken wielder narrowed his eyes “What’re you thinking of?”

“Your phone so I can add something.” The swordsman held out his hand.

“You have to type it?” The blonde tried to find a way out of the stunt.

“It’d be better if I did it but you can.” The samurai said after thinking. 

The blonde pulled out his phone using a hand to hide the screen, as he exited out the web search, blushing. ‘At least he had the dignity not to bring it up.’ The Kurta cheered himself up with effort. “What do you want me to do?”

“Go to contacts.”

The blonde hesitated but pushed the button. 

“Create new.” 

He felt butterflies in his stomach then, he felt his chest tighten with a strange feeling. 

“Type in what I spell. N-o-b-u-n-a-g-a  H-a-z-a-m-a.” 

The blonde typed the man’s name down on his contact list. When he scrolled down to address, he waited for the next instructions since he was unfamiliar to all this. Sharing numbers and addresses.

Nobunaga watched the girl as she stopped on the address tab. ‘She wants my address? That’s good sign but I don’t have one.’ 

When an uncomfortable silence ascended, Kurapika looked back swordsman, catching him staring. “Moving on.” The blonde said as he began to add the man’s number.

“303 -072-1311” Finished, the blonde pressed ‘save’. A clipart of a person cheerfully reminds the blonde about personalization. He quickly stashed the thing quickly in his pocket, so another awkward moment wouldn’t happen. Unfortunately, the other man read the screen. “Sorry, advertising for the camera.” The Kurta said.

“It’s ok.” The swordsman pushds his phone into his pocket. Originally he wanted to give his number, but afterward he wanted the blonde’s in return, but somehow that felt wrong. It would have ruined the nice sight of the blushing blonde. 

“Good night Kurapika.”  The swordsman murmured next to her ear, which was the closest he had gotten to her all day.

“G- Good night.” The blonde replied before realizing it sounded wrong. Burying his face into his jacket. A nod to the other and he retreated, hearing the swordsman's laughter made the Kurta put a speed walker to shame. Around a building he checked to see if he was being followed. No one. He let a sigh of relief out and ran the rest of the way. ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ Deciding to turn his phone off saved him from anxiety. 

As Nobunaga dreamt in bed, his dreams were filled with a certain blonde.


	5. Surveils Guide

Tuesday morning came, and uncertainty was the only word that could be used to describe what Kurapika felt.  Turning on his phone, he scrolled down to contacts. ‘I almost wish it was a dream. This is going to be hard to explain to people.'

Getting ready for work, the blond was successful in pushing these thoughts away in favor of leaving for work. But on his way, Kurapika couldn’t help but think. ‘The guy's persistent enough to find me so I doubt I can shake him off now. I guess he counts as a friend now. The police investigations won’t get anywhere with his friend pulling strings. So if he, Nobunaga, changed his mood and started hurting people again it'd b up to myself to deal with him. ‘I'll call my friends for a dinner party to explain what's going on.'

The blond triple checked the lock before he left. ‘With how he likes to show up and surprise me I don't want to come here and find him on the couch. Hopefully he doesn’t know where I live. Should I ask him ife he does?’ The blond hesitated, but decided not to. H instead brought his phone up to his ear after calling one of his friends.

 "Hey, I'm having a dinner party, want to come? It's next Thursday, 5:30 pm."

 "Yeah, we'll be there." Gon quickly asking Killua for the “ok” as he swiveled his head to look for a second out of courtesy.

"Make sure you do your homework. I'm going to go invite Leorio."' The blond tells the doctor who said he's bringing alcohol to liven the party up.

The blond flinched at the word alcohol.

Leorio noticed which made his smile falter.  "Hey, something happened?" The man turned to the blond in his rolly chair.

 Kurapika debated telling him right now but then his work would suffer, so not happening. "Something might come up and I want to inform you at a much private location." The blond left, not willing to deal with the doctor who shot him a strange look.

Another day come and went. Kurapika leaned on a wall near the door, watching kid's leave as Mrs. Shriner was out giving reports to the adults. When there were no more kids around, the blond searched for the samurai with heightened alert. He felt much more comfortable calling him that instead of his name, it wasn't as awkward. he checked his phone again.’ I haven't gotten anything from him, no texts, email or phone calls. Why isn't he waiting outside? This is killing me, not knowing where he's at.'

‘Kurapika’s zoning out, hehee.' Gon creeped on his friend with a wide smile, waving his hands around in front the blond's face , Kurapika failed to notice the island boy.

The blond turned to the boy, who was repeatedly calling out his name. Suddenly gasped and jumped in shock.

"Hey Gon, sorry didn't see you there. Anything I can help you with?"

‘'Are you waiting for someone? You're looking outside a lot."

The blond forced a smile then dropped it. "Basically, but they're not coming. So I can join you guys then." The blond placed his phone in his bag before walking home with his friends.

»»-------------¤-------------««

Nobunaga kept looking at the time. The samurai wanted to go and see Kurapika but his work demanded that someone finish it. Another exhibit was on coming to town so the troupe was working on getting them to come so they could make their next big hit. So the swordsman had to leave with Shalnark, who was manipulating a manager to write a report that would convince the exhibit to come. Normally, his Dancho wouldn't have done this, but he wanted the Shakku sword and it only this exhibit had it.

 "How are things going with Kurapika? You're kind of antsy - you keep looking at the clock."

Nobunaga looked from the clock to Shalnark who was standing with his cell phone in hand. "Going good, I guess. I wanted to visit her today."

 "Back to back?" Haven't you heard of the concept of looking needy Nobunaga?" The blond smiled.

"Ah, so you're saying I should keep her waiting?" Nobunaga pressed his fingers against chin. "Yeah. You told her you're interested in her, right? People need time to digest." The blond rapidly typed in a paragraph having his toy (the manipulated manager) sign his name.

"Yeah … I kind of didn't." The samurai stated, opening the door to leave.

"You didn't tell her?!" The blond laughed clipping his phone on his belt. "You should go and see her tonight." ‘Oh, that's rich, a member of the Phantom Troupe being shy.' The thought cracked him up more.

"I can't see her now, she's not at work and I don't know where she lives." ‘This is starting to get confusing. He first said not to see her but now he says that I should see her?.'

The blond looked at the enhancer’s basically bare chest and sword at hip. "I suppose you wouldn't be a very good stalker to have." ‘The third in command laughed which earned him a dirty look from the samurai.

 "Not what's going on." The mustache man protests his innocence to being a stalker, frowning at the younger man.

The techie smiled, nodding his head in an excited manner. "I might place a bet with Uvo about how long it takes you to mess it up…" Shalnark joked as he dodged the punch the swordsman threw at his face. "Nobunaga and Kurapika sitting in a tree K…"

The swordsman figured the blond was itching to be beaten up by a certain samurai, why else would he so childish sing that forsaken kid song. Easily catching up with the blond, he laughing at a certain memory which he decided he wanted to remind Shalnark of.

"At least she's not the one brunette who took one look at Uvo and dumped you because she wanted bigger. I mean she--" The blond put an arm on Nobunaga, attempting to choke him. "HAHA! She treated him like a god! Then you two cut her down."

 "Please don’t bring that up." The samurai growled, glaring at the other man as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You're not telling Uvo." ‘Bringing it up was enough.' The swordsman's muscles tense, stepping away so the blond would fall to the floor, but he caught himself and only stumbled.

The techie looked at Nobunaga with a smirk forming on his face. "Safe sex." Placing a condom in the brunette's hand from one of his pockets. Leaving the building, the blond tried but failed to cover his giggles. 

Nobunaga checked his phone at the base away from the fun-loving third in command. Not seeing any new messages, the samurai went to bed. The date was set for next Saturday. Nobunaga was thinking about how to see the blond again,  figuring he'd go after class today to come up with another place to go to for a date.

»»-------------¤-------------««

Kurapika's at school with Gon, who was proudly stating his multiplication table.

Killua shared a grin with the other as they high fived.

The blond clapped his hands, "Good job! Now I can replace that in the grade book for you. Want to try division now?"

Gon nodded and pumped his fist at the challenge, looking at the blond for a moment then tilting his head to the side, "You'll tell me the problem?"

The blond shook his head, "you should be able to, and division is a multiplication problem switched around. Getting the concept is important, otherwise you won't go forward. I'll start you off with an easier one. Thirty-six divided by six equals what?"

The blacknet randomly pulled the first number that popped into his head, "3?"

The blond frowned.

Gon fished again, wincing while guessing another answer, "36?"

"Gon you've got to think about it. " The white haired advised..

"I am thinking about it. It's 3!" The island boy turned to correct his friends.

"We'll work on it when there's not as much stress after school."

 "Why? I know I can do it…" The blacknet answered putting his hands behind his back as he leaned one foot to another. Giving the best puppy eyes he could manage.

"You repeated the same answer twice." The twelve-year-old boy stated to Gon while unwrapping a king sized snickers bar.

"You should have told me earlier!" The blacknet complained to the whitenet, punching him in the bicep.

The candy lover smirked, his eyes becoming cat like. "A for effort," refunding Gon's words to him like a vending machine not accepting the money.

 Kurapika smiled, "I'll be sure to tell you that soon because we're working on our gardens today."

 The whitenet kept chomping on the top of the snickers bar. "It's not like I don't try," the boy mumbled out one side of his mouth, still chewing on the candy. The assassin moved to his seat, propping his chin up and looking at the board.

"Killua‘s really good at pouting," Gon added which finished the conversation with his and Kurapika's laughter.

Later in the afternoon, Gon made sure the vine grower wasn't too tight and cutting into his plant.

Jeremiah came over to the island boy, "Can you help me with my tomatoes?"

Gon glanced at the wilted plant then agreed.

 Killua glared at the back of Jeremiah, making him walk stiffly and quickly away with his head down. Hearing the girls whisper like usually.

 "He looks so dangerous sitting over there by himself. He'd be a McDreamy if he was just friendlier. He's only friendly to Gon, and Gon is too sweet. Do you think I should try to get him something for Valentine's Day? Or will Killua get mad?"

Killua felt a  tick on his head forming. ‘It's not like he'll really go out with you. He'll just be nice and accept the chocolate. He won't understand your dumb feelings you baka. Honestly, you don't have a chance with him… or me, either way"

Gon looked over to Killua, curious about what he's doing. Seeing him with his eyes closed sitting with his head down, ‘I guess he's tired from staying up to help me study but I did well on my multiplication test because of him.' Gon went back to helping the fifth person who wanted their flower to bloom, he helped them put in a layer of potting soil and then putting in regular soil dug up from the area.

Samantha stood by, watching the process Gon was showing her., helping her get started instead of doing it all. Kurapika got mad when Gon did all their work for them.

"Why do you put in regular soil? Isn't potting soil a better solution?" The brunette girl asked, one of her sweater sleeves placed in front of her mouth. She liked the islander boy because she didn't have to repeat herself so many times like with the other children.

"Plants are accustomed to growing in certain environments like a palm tree in Florida instead of in Canada, because of this if you don't replicate the soil to an extent the plant's growth will be negatively affected. You should be ready for your next layer." The islander boy slid the pot closer to the girl and took his two-gallon sized bags with him.

Checking to make sure no one else needed his help before the blacknet walked to Killua, squatting to look at his friends face only inches away.

 "Hey Killua, you asleep?"

Killua blinked his eyes open at a warm gentle and familiar voice, "hmm?" Seeing a pair of golden eyes, the boy straightened.

"I got your fertilizer," holding up one of the bags. "I figured you didn't want to use the stuff in the bag because it's dried out and clumpy so you would have to add water but then the mixing formula would be off. You didn't want to do that because it would be wrong but you know the right way to do this." Grinning, the twelve-year-old boy added, "I’m confident that you can make your plant grow!"

The white haired boy changed the topic quickly, his cheeks gave away that he was blushing. ‘Keep your cool dammit!' "What's in the other bag?" The white haired grabbed his plant and started to pat the soil in the pot, his hands constantly touching Gon's. ‘They're warm and not too damp. Nice, really nice.'

"Ah, we're running out of time!"Gon looked at the clock. Quickly packing the rest of the soil in and putting the bags away.

"Remember to wash your hands Gon." Killua told his friends then put  his plant on the window seal.

"Thanks for reminding me, you're a lifesaver Killua. Kurapika would have made me clean up more if I went back with dirt under my nails."

Killua rushed into class taking his seat before Kurapika could headcount to make sure everyone's was there.

Gon walked as Kurapika stood in front of the class. The blacknet blushed and mumbled a sorry as he dashed back  to his seat.

»»-------------¤-------------««

After government and science, the day ended.

"Killua I want you to make the fertilizer in the bag useable. " Having picked up the idea from the gardening exercise earlier. Gardening taught values like responsibility and care of things, the qualities students had trouble with the most.

The island boy was told to write all the math problems he knew on the board.

 Kurapika worked on a sideboard writing the steps for the boy's division. ‘Gon's observational skills are better for helping him learn something; especially if you play keep away blocking his view of what you're writing, his curiosity will get the better of him. It makes him less stressed out and forgetful." He finished the majority of the problems so not to overwhelm the math-challenged boy.

He finished helping Gon get a head start so he can check up on Killua, who had grabbed beakers and started pouring various liquids into them but stopped after that." How did we say the government's eco laws affect the science of farmers growing plants?" Kurapika took a seat across from the blue eyed boy.

"Generally,  permits are necessary and chemicals can't be added into water sources so to avoid pollution. There's a limit on how emission gases an operation can make the top being 25,000 metric tons CO2e per year. Any more and there's penalty of fines and estimates have to be stored on paper.” Kurapika asked Killua to  loosen up, ‘He's good with memorization, but sometimes the application trips him up. "What are you waiting for? All the condition are meet for application."

"I don't have a green thumb like Gon," Killua stated dodging Kurapika's eyes, he's one of the worst people you can argue with.

"But you do have a cooking thum, I know you can mix ingredients with measurements like its a pinch. That's harder to measure than 10 ml," Kurapika pointed out, having picked up pointers from Gon and psychology books to get Killua to do something he didn't want to, it was for the purpose of growth.

"I can't do it because I'm unsure. You don't do things you're not 100% sure about.' Killua stared at the beakers.

"You know you can try as many times as you like here, Killua. Just add a little at a time to the solution. You always can add more that's pretty easy." Kurapika got up to go talk to Gon.

"Now I want you to compare what I wrote on the one whiteboard and the multiplication you wrote on the other." Kurapika’s eyes scanned over the boy's blue marked answers to make sure they're all correct. Turning to check on Killua who got out of his seat.

"I'm going to go get water."

Gon perked up, "I'm thirsty. I'll go with you too."

»»-------------¤-------------««

 Nobunaga saw kids come out, he sat up to get a better view. Some of the teachers came out too. ‘She hasn't come out yet. She does like to stay late, it was basically dark the last time she left. But I don't want to wait too long,' getting out his phone to check the time. 5:53 pm. The thing starts at seven and we'll need time to get there. I do have a car so it'd be quicker, but still, I should go and check up on her.‘ Jumping of the building, the samurai walked into the building like he worked there. There wasn't a lot of rooms to check in, the first rooms and some others were closed. Leaving two rooms left for him to inspect. The first room had a fat, old brunette. He quickly left the room and walked in the hall. On his way to the other room, a hall monitor stopped him.

 "Are you lost, sir?"

"No, I'm on my way to a class to see someone."

"Is it to pick up your child?"

 "Yeah, he keeps on talking about this really great teacher so I wanted to meet her."

The women nodded in agreement, "your son Gon's really nice, and he must have gotten it from you along with athletic fitness." The girl draws conclusions in her head, ‘There's no way this is Killua's dad the hair color doesn't even remotely match.'

"I'll be on my way." The samurai smiled shallowly as he walked off. ‘I don't think I look old enough to have a kid. Maybe it's like when Dancho has his hair slicked back verses down…? I wonder who Gon is. Do we look that similar you'd jump to that conclusion?' Letting the women supply all the info she wanted made it easier to lie.

Walking into the classroom, the swordsman saw the blond writing problems on a board in a black pen with piece of paper in the other hand. Stopping only when he could reach out to the blond easily and touch her, "hey".

 Turning to the sound of the person who the blond heard walk in expecting not to see the swordsman. the Kurta stared in disbelief. ‘What is up with him showing up like a damn surprise all the time?!’ The blond questioned inside his head. "What are you doing here?" He quickly glanced at the door and and looked back to the man.

"I came here to take you to another date." Nobunaga smiled as he said his answer.

Killua stopped outside the classroom, hearing a person talking to Kurapika using heightened sense of hearing. It was especially useful when he heard an unfamiliar voice. Using Zetsu, he peeked inside the cracked door.

 Gon, seeing his friend go into Zetsu, followed his lead, "Who's the guy?" The blacknet whispered to the other eavesdropper.

 "I don't know. I've never seen him around here before," whispered back.

"Why is he talking to Kurapika?" The curious eavesdropper asked, leaning his head inside, dangerously close to being spotted.

"I don't know that either," Killua responded back, irritation creeping into his voice. The two were in the same boat, why would the assassin know anything more than Gon? "We're going to have to listen to find out."

Letting out a sigh Kurapika started to explain, "I have two students needing extra help so I can't go with you tonight."

Sensing pessimism in her voice,Nobunaga jumped in. "I thought you were preparing work for tomorrow. It's ok, I can wait longer if you need." The sword user moved towards one of the seats for a more comfortable waiting experience.

 Killua frowned, ‘Just another guy hitting on Kurapika. I thought it was going to be something better.' Turning toward his friend to talk but finding Gon waltzing into the room.

The blacknet didn't understand what entirely was going on besides his friend's discomfort with the guy. It isn't entirely cringe worthy like previous times but it's kind of there. "Hey, Kurapika." Gon walked straight up to receive a hug opening his arms wide, looking over his left shoulder at the unfamiliar guy.

Nobunaga caught the stare the boy was giving him, ‘He seems a little possessive.' Laughing eventually, the swordsman grinned back.

Gon leaned away from his friend and inspected the other man closely, also making sure to get a good whiff. ‘He doesn't seem all bad.' The blacknet started to form a belief in his head. Making eye contact with his friend who nodded back and  smiled.

"You need to work on your math," Kurapika said as he took a dry erase marker in his hand.

 The island boy looked at the utensil then back at Kurapika, "Well I-".

 Killua looks at his friend, ‘of course Kurapika is going to make you do work. He needs you as an excuse.' The white haired boy points out the obvious in his head.

"Where's Killua Gon?" The Kurta interrupted and started looking for the other. ‘They're never far apart. Did something happen?' Letting out a look from his usual stoic face.

Gon turned around from the white board saying, "He was just behind me..." Not seeing his friend the blacknet let out a startled cry, "Where'd he go?!"

 Killua reacted quickly when he heard Gon's footsteps. He went and filled a jar with water up to the brim before  picking it up. The twelve-year-old boy started walking cautiously, barely dodging the island boy running into him, letting out a “whoah” of surprise as did Gon.

"There you are Killua." The fisherman smiled, backing up so his friend could enter the room. "Where were you?" The blacknet asked, not having noticed that the eavesdropper didn't come to Kurapika's rescue like him.

 "I was carrying the water still. I had to go slower so it didn't pour over." The blue eyed boy easily lied, "After you left me behind."

 "Sorry," Gon reached for the water to help out.

"I got it," Killua responded to his friend putting it on a desk nearby what he was working on.

“Make sure you lay napkins on the desk otherwise you're going to have to clean it. I'm not going to force the janitor to do it." Kurapika gave a friendly warning to the twelve-year-olds.

 ‘Ah. So that's Gon, he has good speed for his age, he must like running since he’s so swift with his movement.. I could see where the resemblance comes into play.' Nobunaga analyzed the boy, smiling as Gon walked over to the whiteboard again.

 Killua didn't understand why the other guy was looking at his friend, he did not like it. ‘If he's here for Kurapika why is he looking at Gon?' The blue eyed boy refrained himself from glaring as it didn't matter if he was an adult. He could make him shaking fear if he wanted to, but he wanted more information before he made a move.

Gon started working on the problems, looking at the older man asking, "Isn't it boring sitting there waiting?"

Nobunaga replied, "No, as long as I steal  Kurapika before 7:30 I'll be fine."

Kurapika looked at the swordsman from across the room, having previously helped  Killua. "Don't distract him please."

The samurai looked at the blond, "I wasn't going to be rude and not answer," explaining his excuse.

Gon looked at the time, ‘7:30 huh? About the same time Kurapika was waiting yesterday. He also said it was a guy when I asked…' Gon looked slowly between the males a few times, stopping on the newer one. "Were you the one Kurapika was waiting for yesterday?"

 The blond whipped his head around, his fingers twitching to cover Gon's loudmouth. A noticeable blush on the Kurta's face.

"Gon you need to do your math," raising his voice at the twelve-year-old boy and pointing to the board. Kurapika quickly turned around and dipped his fingers into the cool water, patting it on his face and neck, pulling the collar away from the skin.

Nobunaga sat straighter, his attention focused on what the kid had said. A few ideas passed through Nobunaga's mind, he owed Gon a pat on the back for this informations. He might never have found out on his own otherwise. The most important thing though was that Kurapika wasn't denying it. Was not. Nope. Not a peep. The swordsman felt himself relax, propping his chin on his elbow sketching the blond's back into his mind, eyes warm at the next thoughts almost wanting to purr.

 Killua watched his friend blush with a full view of his face, he then took deep breaths. Finally pulling a bottle of hand sanitizer out with stress relieve in the name, the smell of lavender filled the air as Kurapika squirted some of the contents into his palm before massaging it with both hands then bringing it to his nose to take a waft of the aroma.

Catching the blue eyed boy’s look, the blond removed his hands from his face and placed them on the table as he leaned forward to mouth, ‘ Don't you dare make this worse .'

Killua leaned to his right so he could see Gon, "Kurapika really liked checking the inbox."

"Yeah, Kurapika did do a lot of that too." The island boy emphasized ‘did' turning around awe in his voice as his hand pressed a finger against his left cheek in thought.

The blond felt like one of those unfortunate cartoon characters who had huge, gaping holes in the boat. As he attempted to cover one with his foot, the pressure was too great and another hole formed until the boat started to sink.

"Now, you have this all wrong. I just wanted to be there if he came again and got …lost." The blond knew it was a lame excuse before it finished leaving his mouth. Trying to emphasize it was only on a chance, possibility or whim.

Killua tried to see a way to manipulate those words so the blond would regret them, a courtesy of the special training received from his siblings. Leaning back in mock horror while forcing his eyes wider, until below and above the eyelids started to feel dry. Placing his hand on the table a gasp sounding from his chest. "Again? What amount of time has this affair been going on for?"

Nobunaga narrowed his eyes, frowning as the air got caught in his throat and the familiar feeling of anger in his chest. ‘Would she really do something like that? I thought she was more respectable with how serious the air around her was.' The swordsman gripped the plastic chair, making it crack.

"That can't be happening as I don't have a lover, I'm single," The blond proudly pronounced. "Cheating on someone is simply deplorable. If you really loved them, then you'd do them the service of breaking up with them."

 The white haired boy turned his head slowly toward the man sitting.

 The blond looked where Killua was looking to.

 "You're the one who said you're single." The boy said in a sing song voice.

‘Killua got me good, he probably enjoys acting or is a good liar. That punk, he's probably just trying to  get Kurapika to declare she's single.' Nobunaga thought examining the girl's face, noting a definite blush on her cheeks.

"That's why he's here. He's come to pick Kurapika up for a date." Gon smiled,  raising his index finger as if it validated his point more.

"I'm busy with teaching you two." The blond retaliated, shaking his head.

"But we can help each other, we do it all the time." Gon stated what he believed to be the perfect solution where everyone's happy.

"Yeah, you have to go because it's sad when I have a better social life than you do." Killua tried to frown but, but the grin in his eyes gave him away. The assassin wasn't in the mood to do school work tonight, he wanted to play and now that  he's got the perfect opportunity, he wasn’t gonna lose it.

"I have a social life," the blond's argumentative side came out as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I'm friends with you, Gon and Leorio. I have  multiple acquaintances from work, might I add."

"I mean outside of work. Going home and reading a book is not the same as having a partner, or lover. You don't have a social life." Killua backfired, motivated by an imaginary tub of ice cream if he were to get out of this class.

"What about the dinner party on Thursday night?" The Kurta asked.

Gon placed the marker on the board to walk over to his friend to give him a hug from behind, "Please Kurapika, just listen and  go. You work so hard you, take a break and have some fun." The twelve-year-old boy stuck out his bottom lip, standing on his toes as he leaned on the blond. "I I- uh. Your grades are a part of my job." The blond finished firmly.

"Pretty please," the islander boy starts to beg, using those forsaken puppy eyes against him for the second time today.

"No, I can't." Kurapika retaliated back, trying to break free of the hug.

 "Pretty please with a cherry on top," the boy bounced on his heels.

 Kurapika took a longer time to say no this time, but he still refused, getting a good leverage on the boy's shoulders.

"Pretty please with a cherry on top and a double scoop of ice cream." Kurapika started to look away ,biting his lips. ‘No. no. and no.’  He kept whispering in his head to gain confidence.

Gon clutched his fists into the fabric ,being his only leverage left. The island boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

 "Pretty please with a cherry on the top double scoop of ice cream with the gummies and marshmallows and peanut things you get at a buffet at Golden Corral!!"

"Kurapika! He used the buffet, you can't say no," Killua added, whipping cream on top seeing the Kurta's lip tremble and not wanting to take any chances.

Kurapika sighed. He patted Gon on the back like a wrestler tapping out and losing a match, " I'll go so you don’t have to nag at me more.."

"Yay! " The boys cried out, grinning in unison. Killua held up his hand so the other boy could  high five it.

"You both better clean up your messes though." Kurapika interrupted, before grabbing his bag to open it and put something he needed in it. Coming to stand where the swordsman, they both walked out the door and waved.

 "I’m liking those two, especially that Gon," Nobunaga commented to Kurapika at his left.

 "Don't expect my pushy friends to help you all the time."

 "Those were the ones you were talking about?" Nobunaga asked,  thinking back to the bar.

"Yes, but add Leorio. He's legal, legal to drink. At least from where he was from."

"Most teachers wouldn't give their numbers to their students and you do three?"

Kurapika laughed, "Leorio's a grown man, he’s my colleague. He's one of the doctors here, Killua was already friends with Gon. Gon was the first student to welcome me to class." The Kurta explained, pushing open one of the sets of doors to the outside.

 "Yeah, I've seen that happen." Nobunaga thought of Shalnark, Uvo and him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all around to readers and beta: KuroKura Forever!


	6. Optic Neuritis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to let people know I'm going to be starting a Patreon before the year ends. I'm taking requests so I have something on the page when I open it. Please include ship, where there from, any specifics you want to happen in the story, etc. I might reject the story or take more time if I'm not familiar with it as it'd be harder to psych myself up to write it/ write it correctly. I hope to see you on there and thank you for your support.

The two walked to the car on a side street and stopped as Nobunaga fished out the keys  to unlock his car.

Kurapika got into the passenger seat. Poking the seat with his finger, he was surprised by its bounciness. The ponytailed man watched the blonde, feeling his gaze, the blond looked at him, "It's just comfy,"  he said as buckled himself in.

Nobunaga shifted the car into gear on the wood lacquered panel. ‘I knew it was a good idea to steal a nice car, heh.'

Kurapika saw him step on the gas and making U-turn. The blonde freaked out, not seeing the driver put on a seat belt. He grabbed it when the man stopped briefly for a stop sign.

“What are you-?"

"Put on your seatbelt."

 "I'm a good driver," the swordsmen reasoned.

 "Do you want me to start on the statistics? Because I can and we'll be late”, he said sternly.

‘‘But you'll miss some of the show," the driver stated caught up in thinking the blond shares his excitement.

"I don't even know where we're going. Why would I care if I miss some of the show?"

Losing the argument, Nobunaga put on the seat belt and  answered the question, "We're going to watch an underground fight competition," he said, turning left on Cencil Street.

The blond made a face, propping his arm on the window seal, stopping to think. ‘His logic is simple on the surface, like martini and fruit. It goes competitive and fights. He's used the information he's already gotten to inform his decisions, so if I don't want entirely places of, ' the blonde tries to put his tongue on the specific word, ‘ strange, freakish, peculiar, not good… uncustomary seems to fit the blank the most properly, I need to give him certain information.' "How seedy is it?" The blonde glanced at the other occupant in the car.

"Not bad," Nobunaga stated his opinion, it was kind of childlike compared to places he's been.

 "The place has a bar?" The Kurta asked, still a little skeptical, hands folded in his lap.

"Yeah."

 "We're not doing the martini again, or any alcohol as a matter of fact," the blonde felt something weighing on his chest at the memory.

"I was hoping to give you two cherries to tie them together," hitting the steering wheel in an exaggerated motion.

"Not happening." The blonde inserted,  thinking the conversation was going nowhere. He turned on the radio, and the jazz station played out of the speakers set. The blonde smiled and raised an eyebrow, ‘unexpected,' looking at the other man, he made sure to remember this little fact about him.

The man frowned at the radio station and tried to pick another channel, finally settling on a song with a female singer he didn’t know.

 ‘‘How deep is your love? I was starving until I tasted you,'' a loud screech and pronounced bass was heard along with the singer’s lyrics. ‘‘Hey, hey, hey this is DJ White Snake's remixes. Keep listening for the clubbers unwind broadcast." And cheers went off in the background.

Kurapika smiled at Nobunaga as he turned the button to find something he liked.

He preferred the songs that he heard at the grocery store rathern than these new ones he had never heard before. "There's a lot of commercials on," the swordsmen commented.

"How long is it supposed to go for?"

 "Hour or two. It won't be that sketchy, you can live and relax a bit. Honestly, people make a living in fights because no one else will do them," the swordsmen argued.

 "I guess," the blonde thought it was a something he might have to do in the future to get his brethren's eyes, but fighting really wasn’t something he enjoyed. As the swordsman stopped at a red light, Kurapika looked over at his window and saw a homeless man sitting on the street, frantically but calculatingly looking around . The blond started feeling his pockets for change or at least some leftover food to give him.

Nobunaga caught the blond staring at the man on the street and covered his hands with Kurapika's when he tried to open the door. When the light turned green flooring the gas to make the blonde hit the back of his seat. "Don't even think about it," staring out the windshield, speeding the rest of the way to the building and putting it in park.

 "What's that about?" Kurapika turned to look at Nobu, looking very annoyed.

The samurai sighed, looking over at Kurapika with a serious face. "He would have stabbed you and taken your money. Then left you there to die," The driver coolly stated.

"You don't know that," the blond stated clearly at the swordsmen, leaning over the controls into the swordsman's face. "A person in need wouldn't do that statistically.” The blonde remembered his experience living on the streets.

 Nobunaga started to get used to the hot and cold act so it didn't really bother him anymore, but the lack of space had him leaning in. "We'll go and do it after the show, if, he's still there." Nobunaga offered, knowing the guy and the situation more than the blonde.

"He probably won't be there, I have a feeling we’ll be there for a while," the blonde unbuckled his seatbelt.

"If that's the case then he's gone already now too," watching the blonde stop swinging her legs out of the car, she opened the door and turned to give him a dirty look.

 "I could have left money if he he ever went back there again."

 "Someone's going to pick it up and say it's their lucky day," the swordsman got out the car and looked through the window to see that Kurapika had shut the door and walk around. Locking the car, Nobunaga walked in front of Kurapika to lead him. Cigar smoke filled the corridor along with loud music increasing in volume the closer they walked towards it.

The place was cluttered with bodies as the two went inside. Nobunaga looked back to make sure the blonde hadn't gotten lost, fortunately, she was standing right next to him. Pushing their way to a railing, they could see a pit with red stains  on the concrete walls reaching to nine feet tall.

"You want to bet on anyone?" Nobunaga asked the blonde, putting his arms on both sides of the blonde’s head who didn't look happy seeing their bodies getting closer.

"I don't know who's fighting. I want have some time to think." The blonde replied, "if you want me to bet."

"You don't have to. I thought it'd be fun though. Look at the board," he pointed with one hand while his other held onto the railing.

 Kurapika tried to look at what he was pointing at but many bodies blocked his view. Leaning forward and stood on his tippie toes. Then leaning backward, the blonde felt his back touch the swordsman's chest.

Nobunaga looked at her, he hands were itching to put his arms around her or at least on the hips hidden under the layer of clothing, ‘but she won't like that, miss independent.'

 "I can't see the board, there are too many bodies in the way."

"Right, you're short. It's Hidden Shark and Tiger Maniac."

 "None of their names sounds pleasing to bet on," crinkling his nose.

 "Fine, pick one for me," the swordsman responded, hoping she would play along if he said that.

 "I'd prefer to watch the fight, but I'll go with Tiger Maniac as my choice for you," the blonde stated to the sword user.

 "Fine, I'll be right back, stay here," the man went to the betting table, putting down a twenty for the Tiger.

 Kurapika gave up tracking the swordsman in the mass of bodies and instead looked around the place. It seemed like there was an announcer box in the direction the other had gone off to. Lights tacked onto the ceiling in the four cardinal directions. Testing the bar railing for stability, he grabbed it with both hands and shook it, ‘sturdy enough’. He noticed there was another balcony with a group of men and women..

Nobunaga came from behind, "they're going to start in a couple of seconds. "

The music turned off and the lights started flashing around the whole area to excite the group more, they succeeded when there were fists pumping in the air along with drinks and howling and shouting.

 The blonde cringed, his hands hovering near his ears.

Nobunaga smiled and leaned, "It'll get quiet during the fight, don’t worry," the man advised the blonde from his experiences.

"Now! Representing the left corner is...Maniac Tiger!" The announcer yelled waving his arm in said direction.

A big blonde muscled builder came out of a corner. His hairstyle was that close to a shave, wearing a tight leotard that gave the feeling that he just came out of the circus. It was designed like a tiger print and didn’t leave much for the imagination, a few lacey articles start to get thrown around from various women.

Nobunaga deflected some panties bouncing around in the crowd. If Kurapika threw her oanites, he would be more than happy to come here and fight instead of watching like he usually did with Uvo.

Kurapika watched panties fly around the space. He saw light pink one near his left  side so he looked to the right but there were more black ones. He blushed, ‘if they're flying in the air then that's no good, the best place to look is the ground.' Hoping not to find what he was dreading, a purple thong flew at his feet. Turning around for another option, he tried to walk outside until they stopped the panty rain stopped. But instead of running, he faced into the swordsman's chest and covered his vision for the time being. Not realizing somehow that logic had gone outside of his mind. The blond clutched the black cotton of Nobu’s shirt, burying his face into the warm shirt and body.

Nobunaga looked down to find the blonde burying her face into his chest, gasping at the sight, his hands still dangled at his sides uselessly. ‘Why is she doing this?! Is something wrong?' The swordsman tried to explain the phenomena to himself, his hands decide to rest on her back. He leaned forward and asked he,, "what's wrong?"

 Kurapika slowly lifted his head eyes halfway closed and a blush on his face like that of the red sunset, "It's just too embarrassing to watch the p-panties be flung around."

 Blood started to flow a little faster in the swordsman’s cheeks as his mind announced, ‘she's cute – she has a fucking cute side!'  The last part brought a smile to the man's face, "I'll tell you when they stop raining. " Nobunaga looked forward to see Tiger throw some back into the crowd where they stay and then some get tucked into his clothes where they're not visible for fan service. Thinking it's now ok for the blonde to look, Nobunaga told her.

The blonde hesitantly lifted his head to look over his shoulder before attempting to fully turn around just as the announcer informed who's in the right corner.

 A man stood and pushed down the hood covering his face that was attached to a long jacket of taupe color, matched with combat boots on that had sweatpants tucked into them.

"Who do you think's going to win?" "Nobunaga asked the blonde playfully, tapping into the girl's competitive nature.

The blonde assessed the shark first. ‘He has a lean build compared to the Tiger. Hiding weapons under the cloak is a possibility. But the possibility of playing dirty with researched black mail is an option for either one.'

 Moving onto Tiger. ‘I don't see scars so if his opponent uses weapons he could dodge, or he could be new. He looks serious compared to the other. A dead giveaway he's acknowledging the other as a better fighter. The tiger has tension, it could help him focus or make him lose.'

"Shark will probably win." Noticing how the other was near his shoulder. "Please be careful of my shoulder."

Respectful of the girl's wishes, the samurai puts his arms around her waist instead.

‘His grip isn't bad and preferable to someone with HIV laced needles in their pocket.  Leaning into the chest, his shoulders starting to ache and tighten,” if he doesn't relax them then he'd be sorry tomorrow.'

Nobunaga glared at people jolting him and therefore the blonde.  ‘At least she isn’t complaining about being held but when will his luck dry?’ Glancing at the blonde. he saw her watching the match intently, propping his chin on the top of her head content to watch.

The shark's taunted the tiger. "If you're all big and muscular, let's go."

The fighter smiled, "if you want feel if my muscles t are real then I’ll show you" charging,  he raised his fist to aim at his opponent's face.

The shark dodged, pulling a knife and swinging it, nicking the shoulder of his opponent and cutting the cloth through.

"And the first drop of blood goes to Hidden Shark!!" A few girls in the audience balcony started booing seeing their boy toy get injured first.

 Blood droplets hit the wall as the slicer finished the swing.

 Landing a sidekick with his right leg to the ribs of his opponent, the Tiger saw the Shark stumble and bend over. Seeing a chance , the tiger dashed, jumped and kicked with enough force to slam the other into the nearby wall.

 Seeing another chance, the shark propped out his leg, successfully tripping the opponent. The shark then jumped on the Tiger and grabbed both of his arms and forced them to his chest while beating him up with his right arm.

 Trying to dislodge the man by bucking didn’t work, so the Tiger maneuvered his legs to wrap them around the shark's neck in an attempt to choke him.

The shark then went to bite the other's leg.

The Tiger let out a groan of pain and  temporarily weakened his hold.  The Shark took a gasp of breath then tightened up his hold on the Tiger’s leg to make him let go.

Holding on with more force the Shark broke the skin on the other’s leg. He then pulled another knife from his back and tried to stab the thigh of his choker.

The Tiger held up a hand to stop it but the blade inched closer. Switching tactics, the Tiger grabbed the blade bending and bent it in half with his claw like grip, but removing his one hand to stop the blade left another arm free.

Groping up the leg the Shark played dirty and took advantage of the other's weakness. He grabbed the Tiger’s crotch and twisted.

Letting out a howl of pain, the Tiger lost his grip.

 The two opponents scrambled and roll away from each other, catching their breaths. "Tiger's doubled over and the Shark's crouching!" The announcer explained," the two are getting near their limits! The fight should end soon, ladies and gentlemen!"

The blonde noticed the Shark doing pressing his knife against the ground. ‘He's going to use it? Like I though, he really did have two knives,' Kurapika analyzed.

"It was a pretty good move he did when he tripped him right? All the body mass falling down left a good opening on the back. You kind of did the same thing to me when we first fought," the samurai reminisced.

"I wouldn't have done it like that. The tripping is like a surprise attack, works once. They’re playing for the crowd to make money. I would have put my hand out straight so he runs into it and can't hit me. This would infuriate him, making his charges more powerful. So, he gets more injuries from the fall when he's tripped, there's more of a possibility of him hitting his chin with enough force to knock him out. Of course, you have to take into account Shark's and Tiger's arm reach."

"Also, how Shark wants to be viewed by the audience. If he has too much of a glorious and victorious win then more powerful fighters out of his range could fight him leading to a loss which means no money. I don't know where he wants to stay in the hierarchy," Kurapika finished his analyses.

 The swordsman laughed and hit the railing, "Oh my. You're definitely the strategist," holding the blonde closer.

 "I'm going to make you pay." The Tiger growled and charged at the man. The two threw punches and kicks at each other, but both were either missing or tapping the other. That's when the blonde went into knee the other, but this was where he made his mistake.

Grabbing the knee, the Shark pushed it backward and threw the man off balance. He then sliced him with a knife that cut deeply from his right hip to his shoulder. Then he slowly brought the the knife up like the Aztec ritualists pointing  at the sacrifice’s  throat.

 "Two winning streaks?! Hidden Shark wins!" 

Getting up, the man tossed his hood back,  throwing his arms in the air to express his victory while jumping up and down around the ring.

"There goes Hidden Shark unrevealing.” The announcer changed his voice into an advertising one, "stay tuned for the next battle. Maybe one of the sponsors will pick up Hidden Shark," trying to build suspense for the crowd. Two bulky men came to take the Tiger's body out of the arena.

"We should go, the rest of the night's going to be drinking and dancing. And I know your dislike towards alcohol. "

The blonde playfully grinned, "You a bad dancer? Is that the real reason why you don't want to hang around?" he said as he smiled at the ponytailed man.

"Oh. You saying you're a better dancer than me?" Smirking at the absurd idea, "or are you asking me to dance?"

Still smiling the blonde tilted his head to one side looking out to the crowd then back. "I don't think," he paused, "basically having a seizure while standing would normally be considered good dancing." 

"Somehow you foaming in your mouth comes to mind when you say that. So, what would your dancing look like?"

He then thought back to the horrible footage on Gon’s phone. “Gon was recently studying the Indian culture . He decided to share it with Killua but they kinda didn’t apply the actual dance. Then one day, he and Killua took turns hopping and howling around the camp fire with another student filming. ‘Stereotypical Native American dancing ritual scene’, he called it”, Kurapika shared.

"Like fire and shadows with war paint?" The swordsman’s bottom lip trembled as he tried to hold in the laughter.

The blonde slowly nodded, face dead serious, "But no war paint - my students couldn't get me that enthusiastic."

"You're just as bad as me," laughing out loud, he couldn't hold it in anymore. Then an idea formed in his head from Kurapika’s story. "Will you tell me about the indian dancing you did?"

"Nope."

"Fine, let's go," he placed his hand on the small of her back as she walked out of the building. "How'd you like it?" The swordsman asked his breath visible in the cold air.

"It was pretty good. You didn't get wild tonight though." Kurapika replied, being careful of a car pulling near with its headlights on.

 "So I was wild our other time?"

"I guess the better word to use would be ‘pushy’."

"I don't think I pushed you much, you seemed to like it in the end. How rebellious with me will you get?"

The blond tilted his head, "I don't really see myself as rebellious, just not doing something unless it suits me or is necessary." ‘At least he's learning to correct himself. I'm still mad about him spilling the drink on my clothes.'

‘Who’s following us?' Nobunaga suddenly felt it along with Kurapika whose mood shifted. Both turned around to look, finding a guy in a business suit that's possibly retro fashion.

The guy's eyes widened, standing straighter he let out a "h-hello?". Blushing the guy coughed into his hand as he turned his head away. ‘Dammit! You're a businessman. Act like one for goodness sake, I have to convince them to fight for me so I can make money!' He reassured himself as he rubbed the back of his head, the guy then let out a nervous laugh, "You just surprised me when you turned around like you did. Want to make money ? You could win thousa-"

"No," Nobunaga cut him off the man and wrapped an arm around Kurapika to as he led her away from the parasite.

Kurapika saw Nobunaga getting annoyed. "Don't be like that," The blonde felt his voice becoming a little sharp and stern, as if he was scolding a child of his behaviour. "We're not interested but thank you for the offer," smiling pleasantly at the man. "Mr…?" Kurapika trailed off, he didn't want to say it infront of Nobunaga but he really did need money to buy his clansmen eyes.

"It's Sai Blockbuster. Heh, you two are a really cute couple. You have a handsome boyfriend miss, not to mention you’re gorgeous as well," saying that, he backed away, turned around and ran without looking back.

Kurapika felt the anger rising as he took a deep breath. ‘If you're trying to butter someone up then you should at least get their gender right. I'm a guy.' The blonde fumed in his head.

Nobunaga watched the blonde glare at the ‘investor', her shoulders up and fists into deadly balls of fury. ‘We'll at least I know I made the right decision not to tell her about my romantic interest. She looks rowdy and wild now.' 

The stress had gotten to the blond and he blinked his eyes when they hurt. He closed them temporarily rubbed his forehead as an attempt to ease the pain. "Let's go home," the Kurta let out a yawn and started walking back to the car. Getting into the passenger seat, he made sure Nobunaga actually buckled his seat belt before he starts driving.

Turning onto the street, the opposite car’s headlights were too bright for the blonde's eyes, making them hurt more and squinting didn't seem to help. Closing his eyes normally gave him relief but not they still hurt, even when he used the scarlet eyes for a moment or two the scarlet eyes didn't hurt as bad. The blonde leaned his head on the window sighing at the coolness, glad that the seat was comfortable.

‘Kurapika must be tired if she's falling asleep in the car. An outing on a school night makes it a long day for her. I guess a weekend or a Friday would’ve been better. I'll ask her tonight. Wait--', taping on the brakes to slow it down, the mustached man drove  into a gas station to park the car.

He was about to wake up Kurapika, but halted when he realized he could stare without getting a look from the blonde. Her eyelashes were thick and the hair glossy, while light didn't fall on all of her face, it illuminated part of it, making her look ethereal. Her skin was flawless, no dark spots or imperfections. He then noticed her earrings for the first time. Red little crystals at the bottom dangling from a metal chain.  ‘It's simple but pretty, it fits her. Saying she's gorgeous might not have give her enough justice.' Whispering her name, the sword user questioned why he said it so quietly, he just wanted to wake up the sleeping beauty.

She let out a, "hmm?" Her lips came opening and  separating slowly, looking like a suggestive hypnotic dance, completely mesmerizing Nobunaga.

Nobunaga temporarily forgot what he wanted to say, "Where do you live? I don't know since I've picked you up at the school since the first time.”

"You can drop me off at the daycare. What time is it?" Looking around for the clock, it read 8:40 pm. ‘Too late for the center to be open, I'd wake Mrs. Schreiner. I still feel nervous about Nobunaga knowing where I live but at least he can respect my wishes like he did last time.'

Kurapika didn't look like she's about to share her home address. ‘I mean, it's not like I have to drive her home but it'd be nice,' the swordsmen thought it was such a gentleman’s act.

‘It gonna take awhile to get back home, might as well eat something fast before leaving.'He changed the subject and asked, "How about going to a restaurant? I'm kind of hungry," the blonde proposed, "like Taco Bell or Wendy's."

The samurai's forehead wrinkled, ‘something's off, Kurapika likes healthy foods.' "If you don't want me knowing where you live you can say so."

"I thought it was more tactful to do it the way I was, "Kurapika admitted.

Nobunaga started leaving the parking area, looking at the blonde to tell him his destination.

Making a mental map, the blonde decided. "Wendy's at 120th and Melody. Take this road straight down," pointing at the road they had come off of.

Backing out, Nobunaga started driving on the street but feeling disappointment. He felt rejected when Kurapika still didn't share her address with him. ‘That didn't go over well. I want to know more but she keeps blocking my attempts.' Glancing over in time for the next set of directions Nobunaga heard, "at the furthest red light you can see,  make a right."

Nobunaga followed the directions and went to the drive thru. "Welcome to Wendy's. How may I help you?" came through the speaker.

 The samurai looked at the menu, "You go first Kurapika."

Speaking loudly the blonde ordered, "I would like a strawberry Caesar salad please."  Looking back at Nobunaga he saw a shocked expression on his face. ”Are we gonna play the you-don’t-eat-enough game?” The blonde paused, was about to say something, but changed his mind for he wasn't in the mood for an argument, "I'll take two of those actually.”

 "What's on your cheeseburger?" Rubbing his chin with his thumb, he leaned on his elbow on the window and poked his head out of the car.

"Mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, cheese and a beef patty."

 "The chicken sandwich?"

 "The same except for chicken."

"I'll take six of each and a large chocolate frosty."

"That will be $34.56, please proceed to the first window.”

"You don't want a drink or fries?"  The blonde questioned at the weirdness of the sword user’s order. ‘He eats a lot for one person, six sandwiches?'

"No, I'm good." ‘The troupe should actually let Dancho eat some of the food this time, unlike last time, they were too lazy to get their own food they even made Dancho give his food up'. Driving around the swordsman paid in cash with two twenties. Accepting the change, he placed it on the blonde's lap.

"What's this about?" Picking up the bills to examine them along with the coins that fell to the floor.

 "Teachers aren't paid well. You can keep the change," Pulling up, he accepted the two bags of food and a tray with plastic spoons then proceeded to set them on the girl's lap.

 "I don't need the change, it's six dollars," the blonde protested and stashed the money in the cup holders.

"You're taking them or you’re telling me where you live." The ponytail man started, pulling the car into a parking space and looking at the blonde.

 Kurapika didn’t think he was bluffing, ‘the man's too serious. It's in my favor completely.' Kurapika sighed and put the change into pockets. Putting his hand on the doorknob he said. "Now, there better not be any stalking like the one time at the police station."

"Yeah," the samurai stared at her.

"None," Kurapika repeated to make himself crystal clear.

The driver nodded in agreement.

Getting out of the car the blonde grabbed his bag, putting his small frosty on the side. Before closing the door Kurapika said, "You leave first," shutting the door and walking to the bus stop nearby, hovering close.

Nobunaga knew he was being watched by Kurapika, so he drove like normal until he could no longer see the restaurant. Turning onto a side street and parking the car, he got out and sprinted while remaining in zetsu. At the intersection, he didn’t see the blonde waiting nor at the bus stop. ‘The light was still green from when I passed Kurapika's a goody two shoes. This means she must be nearby.. in this apartments!’ The man walked to the entrance, spotting a figure holding a bag.

Kurapika walked into building C, then up to the third floor, looking over her shoulder a few times. Nobunaga grinned, he was enjoying this chase. She stopped at a room in the two hundred's with the number tacked onto the door. ‘Well, you have nowhere to hide now.'

Turning around the man walked down the hallway and one flight of stairs before turning right back around. ‘I can't just leave. I've got to knock on her door.' When he was in front of her door, he knocked with the back of his knuckles. ‘My guts are screaming at me to do it, I’ll probably be in trouble after this.'

Kurapika heard a knock on his door making him feel uneasy. ‘Who would come at this time of the night?' Putting down the food on his table, he went to look through the peephole. But it didn't offer much to see with the spider's web obscuring the view. Opening the door far enough that the latch and chain up top, the blonde saw Nobunaga outside.

The two made eye contact and the Kurta's mood went downhill. ‘I don't think he has a valid reason to be here.' Tempted to shut the door in his face and fetch the ear buds and blanket and sleep under his covers, but his manners get the better of him.

 " What do you want?"

"To see you," Nobunaga replied, his eyes flickering above the blonde's head to catch a glimpse of the inside of the house.

"What happened to my warning?"

 "I didn't follow you. I was going in the same direction as you," he answered, knowing if he said anything wrong, Kurapika would close the door.

"Now that you've seen me, you should leave." The Kurta stated an obvious tone.

"Nah, I came all the way up here."

"And you have to go all the way down when you leave," the bokken user replied, a pinch of sarcasm in his voice.

 "There you go throwing someone's words back in their face," Nobunaga pointed out. Nobunaga didn’t take the challenge like he normally would, instead, he attacked with something else.

"Was tonight not enjoyable because of you not feeling well?" The swordsman frowned at the thought, feeling genuinely upset. He liked spending time with her and didn't want it to be ruined by something so petty.

"No..." the blonde closed his eyes, one hand pressed to the door as the other rubbed at his neck thinking of how his eyes had burned. "I don't know," opening his eyes and looking at his guest. "All I know is my eyes have been hurting and killing my mood."

Nobunaga leaned in, his hand reaching through the door’s opening to cup the blonde's face and tilt it upwards.

Kurapika froze. His eyes looking down to stare at the hand cupping his face, he sucked in  breath as his legs felt weaker than they did a minute ago. The blonde's left tear gland starts watering to soothe the irritated eye from all the stress it has been going through in the past hour.

Nobunaga stared at the tear rolling down her face, speechless. He let a thumb glide down the path where the tear was going. He had no clue how to comfort a crying girl at all, this was one of the things he'd go to gis Dancho about. The only experience he’s had with a crying person was when they begged for their life, but the blonde was not doing that. "Are you crying?"

"No," the blonde quickly corrected, "my eyes just hurt." Stepping back, he wanted the  man to stop touching his face, and scolded  himself for missing the touch as it left him. It was strange how it seemed to soothe away the pain a bit. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and brought his shoulders up, like a turtle protect itself by hiding.

"But the tears," the samurai pointed, frowning when the girl stepped further back into her house.

"Tears don't necessarily mean that I’m crying. Generally, wrinkles become more pronounced in the face. The mucus gland makes your nose runny and your speech becomes incomprehensible, as the sobs affect your voice. Is my speech that bad?" Kurapika started going off about symptoms that may  cause tears.

"So … you're not crying?" Nobunaga hesitantly asked.

"Correct."

 "But if your eyes are hurting then you should go to a doctor--" Nobunaga stopped talking seeing that  the blonde was shaking her head, her hair moving back and forth, covering her face.

Stopping, she looked at the other, "I don't like going to the ophthalmologists."

 "Why not? Most people would worry if their eyes do what yours did."

"Some rest and I'll get better," Kurapika replied.

 The samurai realized something, "That's why you were closing your eyes for the car ride? Not because you were tired?"

Kurapika didn't say anything back to the man's correct statement. Thinking of an excuse took too long and it wouldn't be believable with the silence, he might as well just say the truth.

"If all that massaging didn't fix it, it's serious and you need to go see someone."

"Is that everything you needed to tell me?" When no response came, the Kurta he shut the door after yelling, "I'll think about it so go away!" Knowing the man would pound on the door all night long and slam the doorbell till it broke. Those things would only add to his anxiety.

His back slid against the door till he was sitting on the floor. ‘What do I do? I don't want to risk it but if it's an actual problem and my eyes start to go bad, then… What can I do? If I get found out then it'd be all over.' The blonde started to walk around in circles. ‘I wish Pairo was here. He would be able to tell me if it's worth losing my sight.' The Kurta smiled sorrowfully, his hands forming fists in his hair. ‘Yeah, what would Pairo even do? This is my decision, God, I hope it's the right one.' Taking his contacts out, he put them in their case and flopped into bed to. He stared at the ceiling for the majority of the night, thinking the ceiling fan looked like a wheelchair.

Nobunaga soon left, not hearing anymore crying from the blonde worried him, ‘how will he deal with this?’


	7. Solecism

Kurapika woke up with eyebags to a blaring alarm clock.  ‘Forty five minutes until I go to work. It’d be rude to call in now.’  Inspecting himself in the mirror he cringed, anyone could notice how abd he looked right now. ‘I don’t have anything to cover those puffy eyes with. I’ll go to the store today to buy makeup. Although I doubt it will get better anytime soon. Maybe I can go to Dr. Karvenschnic he certainly helped Pairo out with his eyes.’ 

Typing in the nam, Kurapika’s eye looked at the top article headlines. ‘The doctor known as Candy Korvenschnic went insane… read obituary here.’ Curiosity got the better of him and he clicked on it. Kurapika saw Korvenschnic’s smiling face and ready some pretty disturbing reports of what happened to him. ‘Maybe I can’t go now. I doubt I’ll find another competent one, let alone in this area. I need to find someone who won’t make a big deal out of this and tell me friends. I need to go to work now, I’ll look later’.

Quickly finishing his breakfast and getting ready, he didn’t forget to take his eye drops with him. ‘When I go to the store I’ll buy another contact case, this one’s about to expire’, he said as he looked at the date written in sharpie he had written, it was expiring in two days. Walking quickly, he aimed to to increase his levels of endorphins to help his appearance. 

When he arrived to work, he saw Gon walking up to him, “Can I test my knowledge of division skills?” 

“Yeah, let me put my stuff down first,” walking into his classroom, he let Gon wait by the door as he placed his things down on his desk. ‘Six divided by’ , Gon held up three fingers on his right hand, taking a step back to put two fingers, ‘equals this.’

“You’re correct, Gon. But why are you acting suspiciously?” The blond guessed this has something to do with Nobunaga but he wanted to confirm before he lectured him.

“I’m trying to do my math,” the boy talked louder since he was out in the hallway, looking over his shoulder, he looked back so not run into people. Kurapika gave Gon another another problem to try.

“Ten divided by five doesn’t equal three. The correct answer’s two. How many fingers do you have on your hand?”

Gon countd them, “five.”

“Now the other hand.”

“Five.”

“Count all your fingers together.” 

“Ten...oh!” The light bulb went off in the island boy’s head. He tried to distance himself from the groups of people coming into the classroom but his back touched the door. “Can you come out into the hallway?” 

The blonde shook his head. “Class is about to begin, come inside.” The blacknet trudged inside with Killua following behind him, carrying a bag of carrots and apples then placed  it on Kurapika's desk before going to his seat. 

Gon leaned across the table, “good idea Killua! An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” reciting the saying he lived up to.

“I want to remind you everyone, your permission slips for the field trip to the museum will be due in three days.“

‘I forgot to mail it to Mito so she could sign it. I only have two days, there’s no way I could mail it and could get it signed on time.’ The blacknet freaked out inside his head.

Killua holded up two papers, “mine and Gon’s are ready.” 

Gon heard his name and looked up, watching Kurapika takes the papers. 

Killua whispered to his friend before he could protest, “we’re good.”

“You sent and got it signed?”

“Basically,” the white haired boy lied easily. Gon would throw a fit if he knew he forged the signatures after looking at the letters he kept from his mom and  Mito. 

Leorio pulled the blonde into his office during lunch, “We’re doing an eye test.” 

The blonde frowned at the doctor, noticing a paper next to an envelope with Gon’s name written on it, he crossed the room to examine the contents. 

_ ‘As someone who knows how stubborn Kurapika is, I wanted to let you know there’s a problem with her sight, I want her to take an eye test. I doubt me telling--.’   _

Kurapika had gotten through most of it when Leorio took it from his hands. 

“Eye test.” 

‘I can’t believe he asked Leorio for this,’ the blonde reached for his phone which got plucked away. 

“Go behind the tape line”, Leorio ordered.

All Kurapika wanted to do right now was get  his phone back so he could yell at the samurai. But doing the eye exam would satisfy his friends and it’d be less invasive compared to the eye doctor’s. Sighing, he stepped behind the line and covered his left eye. Kurapika got surprisingly got through all of the letters with both eyes.

Leorio wrote down the results, ‘we’re going to need more tests to figure what’s wrong’. Pulling the flashlight out of his bag and walking toward the blonde, he flashed it in both eyes. ‘I can’t tell with his eye color if the pupils are dilating like they should.

“Kurapika your 20/20 vision but I want you to take a comprehensive test.” 

“But I don’t have to immediately since it’s not big of a problem like I thought.” Kurapika emphasized.

“I won’t forget your appointment.” Leorio puts a reminder in his phone. “You should go tomorrow since you’ll have free time with the early release.” 

“You don't trust your own examinations but listen to some stranger's letter?”  

The brunette let out a warning sound, “I don’t think it’s a stranger if they can point out how stubborn you are, it's one of your hidden packages. “

‘If I schedule it myself I get to pick who does it and I can make it quick.’ “Fine, if anyone has an opening.” holding out his right hand,  now phone please.” 

Handing it over, Leorio asks, “What are you going to do?” 

Checking the time, it was 11:42am. ‘Damn I have to finish eating. It took over half of lunch to do the eye test.’ Putting his phone away he said, “I’m going to go eat”. He left the room and smiled at Gon and Killua on his way out. Gon entered with Killua as Leorio pulled the letter from his jacket’s inner pocket. “Who do you think did it?”

“It was none of us.” Killua interjected, “ Gon your name was on it. Who else did you tell?” The islander boy thought about everyone who knew, which was a lot of people- neighbors, landlady, grocery store customers, and a ton more. 

“Gon didn’t have to say his name. The person could have overheard and seen Kurapika with Gon.” Leorio suggested this scenario. 

“Yeah but if that was the case then we should have seen the person. We hang as a group a lot. But Gon’s name was on it. If his name was heard, then why not our names?” 

Leorio's  great detective skills got stomped by this elementary student. “ We should ask Kurapika then?”

Gon looked at the door the teacher had left through. “Where there any clues in the paper?” 

Rereading it a few times the whitenet answered with a “No”.

“What about a witness? The person had to drop it off right?” Gon pounded his fist into his palm. 

Leorio jumped along with the idea. “ Yeah! “ pointing a finger at the math failure. “ I’ll go check”, he started to walk to the door.

“ I’ve checked. The receptionist said it was a guy and she didn’t remember what he looked like.” The math whiz stated.

“At least we know it’s not a girl. That’s a fifty-fifty right?” Gon smiled, forever the optimist.

“ I wish it was a girl.” Leorio shoulders slumped. “ I’ll look further into it.” Killua grabbed the letter from Leorio, walking back to the classroom.

Gon ran past Leorio to catch up with Killua. “ Bye Leorio!” 

The day finished and the blond left to start scavenging for a suitable eye doctor At his apartment, the blond loaded an excel sheet then typing in Google. 

“ Best eye doctors”. He found a few names and tped them in the excel sheet. Deciding to check if they've won any awards, he searched the American eye association to see if there was other criteria that should be completed or researched. He then looked at each company one by one to see what they offered.  A list came up, he read all their specialties, deals and specials, locations, prices, and customer satisfaction.” After one more customer rating website, the laptop beeped and warned him that his battery was at 10 percent.

Taking a break to get water, the blonde found the time to be 9:00pm.’ I’ll check the Hunter website to find any more information’. It was 11:37 pm when the blonde was done with his research, finally finding two prospective places. Crossing his hands in prayer the blonde breathed in and out, each breath was spoken with a name that belonged to one of his clansmen. With every name said, it didn’t fail to soothe him. 

His final evaluation consisted of him pulling a map with both locations on it in and summoning his dowsing chain. ‘Which one is going to help me keep my eyes healthy in the aftermath? Which one will help me obtain this goal?’ The chain moved to a specific one and stayed there. Checking out the place online, he signed up and made an appointment. There was an available one tomorrow. Finalizing the appointment process, the blonde shut down the computer so it could cool off at the bottom. 

He washed his face in the bathroom after that, ‘I feel better about this but still…’ Kurapika watched the water drip off from his face. ‘I know I can walk out if I don’t like the service.’ Brushing his teeth, the blonde swapped his regular clothes for his pajamas and crawled in his bed to sleep.

 

Wednesday morning came, the Kurta was up early enough to see stars’ light fading as the sun rose. Ice cold water was one of the first things the blonde needed to wake him up, then contacts and some yoga, an extra five minutes for self-affirmation meditation, and lastly breakfast before leaving. He texted Leorio on the way down the stairs. 

_ Kurapika:  I have an eye doctor’s appointment at 1pm today. _

At the end of the stair steps Kurapika got a reply his phone,

_ Leorio: I’ll drive you.  _

Replying with a “k”, the blond started his walk to work. Leorio was waiting at the door when the Kurta strolled in. 

“What’s the address?” 

“It’s actually very close in this town, 2589 West Crystal Avenue 16060. I have it written down so you don’t have to look it up,” he said before walking off to his class. 

Leorio finished the day with him driving his friends to the shopping center. Gon, being the teacher’s assistant was tasked with getting more gardening supplies and learning materials from Home Depot. 

Kurapika gave the boy $50 that he got from his boss to pay for their supplies. “ If there’s any change, save and try to find some good deals.”

“Ok.” The blacknet energetically responded.

Kurapika got out of the car, taking his book and cell phone and going inside the shop. The door opened it and the blonde was happy to be distracted from his thoughts when the receptionist smiled at him.

“How may I help you today?”

“ Eye appointment,” looking at the frames.

“ Your name?” 

“ Kurapika.” since it was machine the blonde just put Kurapika again for the last name. 

Going over to a file cabinet,  the doctor’s coworker pulled out a dark blue folder.

“Follow me”, walking out from the desk to the back, the duo passed a waiting area and a the receptionist desk to go to a prep room on the left. 

She closed the door behind him. “ I’m going to be doing your pre examination”, she said before placing the papers on the counter to write down some things. 

Kurapika stared at the four machines in the back and the rolly chair that he was probably going to be seated in. “ Which one’s the air puff tonometer?”

The aid looked up, “ Oh, we're not starting with those first. We’re just going to do the line reading. Then that.” 

Kurapika looked unimpressed with the answer. “ I heard that one’s optional.”

“The line reading? No it’s not” “The girl with the glasses corrected. 

“I mean the air puff tonometer.”

The girl nodded her head, “ Obviously you've had the test done before. But it’s still recommended to check for Glaucoma and precursory of treatable diseases in the eyes. It is recommended but not necessary. “ Pointing with her pen at the fourth machine. “ This is the tester.” 

Kurapika nodded silently.  ‘If it points out other problems then maybe it’s not my eyes that are having trouble, it’s something else. While that’d still be bad, it’s better than my eyes.’ Clinging to the think shred of hope, the blond commented, “ I’ll do that test.”

Passing the eye exam with flying colors, Kurapika finally got to sit in the rollie chair. “ We’ll start at the other one.” The doctor informed Kurapika who pulled himself over there by grabbing the table. “I want you to stare at the light and put your chin on the rest right there.” 

Leaning over he did exactly that, his eyes already getting a burning sensation in the back. “ I have one eye and now I’ll do the other”, he heard a click.

‘ One eye?’ Kurapika eyes darted around, looking for anything protruding or sharp. 

“ We can now move onto the next one. Same process, and try to relax more.” Going onto the next machine, the blond looked into a red light and tried his best not to squint. A puff of air hit his right eye. Slightly rearing back in surprise the blond started to tear up instantly covering the eye with both of his hands. “ You lied, that’s the puffer!”

The girl came back from plucking a kleenex from the tissue box, “ I did that for your own good. You're so tense I knew you wouldn’t do it if I told you the truth.” The blonde saw the logic so he really couldn’t complain. But oh did that stupid puffer machine bother him. Reaching into his pocke,  he pulled out his eyes drops and dropped one in his left eye it was more tolerable this time. Looking at the other machine with a frown, he didn’t put his chin on the rest. “ Do any more of them puff?” 

“No, this is the only one,” The girl tried to assure him with a smile.

Putting his chin back on the rest but not enough for his forehead to touch where it was supposed to touch, he looked  into the eyepiece to the little picture of a house.

“You have to have your forehead touch the top pad too.”

Kurapika hesitated but have in. “ I already lied about the puffer, and I promise we wouldn’t have two of the same machines. That’d be a waste of money.” The logic sounded right, but fear sounded better.

“Fine, put your chin on the rest for a little bit and I’ll put my hands right where you can see them,” the girl stretched out to where her fingernails were a few inches away from the blond’s shoulders.

In his head, Kurapika was thinking her ability to do the procedure was like that of the ability to click a button with your tongue, she made it hard than what it really was(it was actually him but he won't acknowledge it). Placing his chin back on the rest, the Kurta closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before speaking with one closed eye and closing it again. 

”Look at the house please.” A few clicks made the blond’s muscles tense, and flattering image only helped him more anxious. “ One more and... done.” 

As the blond moved to leave, out of surprise, he rammed his head to the machine when he felt pats on his back.

“ Oh my goodness, are you ok?!”Receiving a nod, the girl continued, “Oh, ok. You're all done done so you can go relax in the waiting room if you want.” 

Rubbing the affected area, the blonde nodded. Grabbing his book, he flashed a fake smile to the girl and left the room. The smell of cleaning products him as he walked in the hallway.

Plopping on the nearest chair and crossing his legs, he let his head lean and relax.The feeling of discomfort from the examination stayed but he started counting to eights to ease his mind.

Finally feeling the nausea lessen, he  opened his book and tried to read. Unfortunately, he was unable to process the sentences. So instead, he shut the book with a louder snap then he probably should have. The blonde jumped slightly from the sound he made, but he made sure no pages were bent as he hated people that dog eared. ‘Ugh, there are free bookmarks all over the place, you could just make one with a sticky note if you really needed to.’ He then realized that his fear was quickly transforming into angry. 

The blonde put the book in his lap and stared at the non-committal floor out of habit. Feeling better about not giving his secret away , he looked up to gauge the other's’ reactions. Thankfully, everyone was either reading magazines or on their phones, completely ignorant of his secret. ‘Ignorance really is bliss. I thanks the Gods above for that.’ 

Kurapika heard his name getting called by a man. Looking up to see the doctor wearing a lab coat motioning for him to get up and go over there. ‘Is there more? Well I knew there was more from pre-testing to testing but this is very quick.’ The Kurta panicked in his head, stalling for a moment too long, he got up and took the book he brought with him. He caught the doctor curiously trying to look at title of his book.

Chairs and a screen along with an even bigger chair with a device in front of it were placed around the examination room.’Well, that is propaganda machine from commercials so that’s a good sign’.

The doctor looked to be in his twenties was still standing by the door looking at him, “Is this the wrong room?”.

“No,” he shook his head and the short black strands of hair parted swished and parted to his side “ I just wanted to tell you I’ll be right back.” The five foot nine man said and walked away.  

Kurapika watched the door, waiting only a moment or two till he came back with a glass of water in a paper cup. He closed the door and handed it to him. “ Here you go.” 

Kurapika set down his book and accepted the water peering in to see it clear and sniffing before letting the liquid pass his lips in one clean motion as not to raise any suspicions. It was nice and cool. The doctor move around and Kurapika’s mind flashed back to when Nobunaga wanted him drink alcohol. ‘Could that be the cause the pain in my eyes?’ Headache and migraine symptoms are highly linked to the eyes. The man was walking away to take a seat and inspect his chart. Finishing the water, it had helped his dry mouth. Taking a seat at the nearest chair, Kurapika looked around for a trashcan.

“I’ll take that”, said the doctor as he held out one of his hands. The grey eyed man grabbed the cup throwing it into the trash can next to him. “We'll start with your chart as there seems to be a mistake.“

Sitting up straighter and pressing his legs together, Kurapika's mind warned him, ‘Mistakes are bad. What’s coming up is very bad. Nope, not good at all.’ 

“Your name is filled out as Kurapika Kurapika. I doubt that’s right so what’s your last name?” Clicking the top of his black ink pen and bringing it closer to the paper.

“I don’t like giving out my last name,” he fidgeted in his seat to look more convincing. 

“It’d just be for accuracy’s sake,  it’ll be completely confidential.” The doctor assured.

‘I’ll just have to make him regret asking for it like licking ear wax. “ Dick.” Kurapika answered. 

“ Dick?” Chrollo looked at the blonde who raised her eyebrows at him, staring meaningfully. 

“Well… it’s actually CockSucker but I prefer shortening it to dick.” ‘Maybe I should have picked differently… I can already feel myself blushing” The blonde regretted his decision.

“I’m sure you hate your name,” Chrollo smiles genuinely trying to smooth out the situation.

Kurapika's first emotion is to yell he takes pride in being a Kurta- following through, “ I love my name!” glaring at the man as his hands twitch into claws in his lap.

Chrollo blinks seemingly for the first time, a slow unsure motion, “You like your name... CockSucker? Well, actually  _ love _ it…?”

Kuraprika bites his lip. It’s such a shame his brain went on a vacation leaving his emotions to do the heavy lifting. Turning his eyes away his hand moved by an immature pupperteer trying to blow off the whole situation.

Chrollo picks up the blond’s paper work, “...Now the chart says you’re twenty twenty for vision, so did you come in for an annual check up, or did your medical insurance require it?” 

“ I’m having some problems.” Kurapika stated the words, his mouth tasted bitter making the blond scrunch his nose. 

“I’ll try to make this quick for you then, but accurate as possible,” standing to move the equipment to fit the girl. Pumping up the height of the chair. “Do you wear sunglasses or go to bed with makeup on?”

“No to both. My job has me working from about seven to four  so I’m inside for the brightest portion of the day and I don’t wear makeup.”

“Does your job require you to work on a computer for a long amount of time? Or do you read in low light?”

“I’ll be on the computer inputting grades and emails for about three to five hours a week. I don’t read in the dark but I do read a lot.”

“I want you to read the first line and tell me which one is clearer. Number one first, and then I’ll pause then flip the device to number two. Tell me if you need me to repeat.” He then proceeded the examination.

Kurapika focused on the numbers and answered, “Number two.”

The doctor went through the rest of the set to number ten, taking breaks to write the answers. Pulling away the device and sitting in his chair. “The good news is your eyesight is 20/20 but…” Chrollo stared at Kurapika, “those contacts are putting strain on your eyes, they're not allowing as much light in. If you keep wearing them then your eyesight will be in a great danger of diminishing shing.”

Kurapika touched his face with his cold hands, fingers lingering around his eyes.

“I see that you don’t want to, but urge you to get rid of them completely as soon as possible.” Chrollo lectured.

“I’ll think about it,” Kurapika nodded, already reaching for the door to exit. ‘This man is not the greatest with his ideas. There’s no way I can take out my contacts.’ Kurapika exited the store to sit on a bench in front of another store. 

Calling his friends, Leorio picks up “ What’s going on? Your status?” , he moved the phone away from his ear as Leorio began to bombard him with questions.

“First, I’m not going to the doctors again, and two my eyes are perfectly healthy.” 

“Kurapika we have to celebrate!” Gon shouted and Killua agreed on the other end. 

“ We have tomorrow’s dinner party so we should be good.” He stopped talking when he saw the doctor come out and start walking towards him. Turning around Kurapika quickly give details of their meet up. “ I’ll walk over to Home Depot and meet you at the car, by.” Pressing the end call button,  the man walked up to stand next to him

“Hello.” 

“Hello to you too?”. Wondering why the man came to see him again, he looked at what he was holding and his question was answered. “Can I have my book back?” 

Chrollo was used to being blunt, having a mind set that of a thief. ‘If you want something, why not just take it?’.

“ Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?” The blackette watched the blonde’s face, noting how it turned cherry red. Kurapika fakes a cough and said, “ I’m not looking for a relationship right now,” the words were uttered with closed eyes as Kurapika couldn’t stand to open them and see this man’s obvious flirtation.

“Will you be available in the next few months?”  

The Kurta shook his head, “I’ll be moving most likely… You know I’m a guy, right?” 

“ Yeah.” The doctor answered, his eyes unblinking in an unnerving way. Kurapika stared at the man, ‘Oh well, that plan went down the drain.’ 

“I don’t care what about gender, both are worthy of admiration.” His grey eyes were boring into him again. 

Kurapika turned his head away, hearing his fast heart beats only made his face redden more. ‘Is he shallow enough that only beauty interests him?’. The Kurta's eyes wandered to look at the man’s white coat, envisioning a great set of abs underneath there. ‘Oh no! No!!’ Kurapika mentally scolded himself and turned around to slap his cheeks. Forcefully trying to return common sense into him to get rid of these stupid thoughts.

Chrollo’s eyes flicked to the pockets of the blonde. ‘It should be in the right’, reaching in to pull out the eye contacts case. He leaned closer, “I’ll save you the trouble of turning around. You should take out your contacts otherwise you're going to have to come back and see me again.” 

“Why would I come see you again?!” Customer service and complaining  was definitely where he was heading next. He definitely didn't want to come back here again.

“Because you requested me.”

Kurapika felt himself getting pretty close to yelling “fuck it all Pairo!”. He stood up and broke into a speed walk to get out of here and go over to his friends. ‘Just being in the same area as that man is intoxicating.’ The blonde’s body was rigid like that of one of the scissor's blades.

Chrollo watched the lean body move away. Always ready to experience something if it’d answer his questions. He couldn’t help but but feel drawn to this blond. ‘Well that’s a shame…’ smiling sorrowfully , he went back into his business.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about the late update life sucked the past few days and I couldn't get around to this between a family pet dying, a midterm and research paper due.


	8. Kismet's Will of Coincide and Bifurcate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My editor and me are trying a new indication where there's been a change in the story such as a time-shift or character perspective shift being noted with a double spaced instead of a line break.  
> The italics is text messages.

Kurapika woke to a text message from Gon. Looking at his phone, it read 3:34 am. He sat up groggily in bed and checked the suspicious message.

_Gon: I’m done with my homework so I can come to the party today._

Gon didn’t usually cram but there’s a possibility. The blond made up his mind to text back.

_Kurapika: Now you better get some sleep since you stayed up all night long :( ‘_

_Gon: No, I didn’t stay up all night. I’m up early to do my morning run with Killua. He’s such a sleepyhead :D_

The blacknet put down his phone to wake his roommate. Killua awoke to the presence of light and tried to smack Gon with a pillow. Gon ducked under the covers, laughing and thinking of what to make for breakfast on the bed.

Kurapika felt nicer with the thought. ‘He was so excited he didn’t go to sleep’.

_Kurapika: Good luck waking Killua. See you at school._

The blond pulled two books into his lap, he usually woke up at four or quarter after five, but it wasn’t worth going back to bed now. Opening his book, he couldn’t help but feel happy that the second book had been released so he could finish the series. At about five, the blond’s stomach growled.

Removing the covers off his body, he swung his feet onto the carpet to hard boil some eggs, having made his lunch the night before. He continued to read on the couch while waiting for the timer to go off. Another chapter later, he had to put it down again, feeling the slight disappointment of leaving a good story behind to turn off the stove’s timer. He ran ice cold water on the eggs for another 15 minutes so the shells would come off perfectly as he went back to his book. And then after that was done, he decided to have only four eggs out of the twelve so he could use them for leftovers.

The blond had ten more chapter to read when six o’clock hit. ‘ I’ll probably finish on the two bus rides.’ Deciding to take it and packing lights with in bag, he took the book and lunch along with the signed permission slips. He put his contacts right before leaving the house, he convinced himself that he’ll only use it during his work hours and take them off after to give his eyes a rest.

At the classroom, Kurapika made sure to pack lunches for the kids who couldn’t or had forgotten to bring. He made sure to provide something healthy and a favorite item having to hand those out in brown bags lunches. He ordered the chatty class to go to the front steps of the bus, already being a few minutes late.

The bus arrived but they had previously realized that there were more kids than seats on the bus. Every two kids had to sit in one seat except the smaller kids who had to be seated with two others in the same seat. The whole trip flew by fast for Kurapika who had been dazedly looking outside the window the entire ride.

Gon looked out the window and Killua had his eyes closed trying to catch more sleep even with the large breakfast he got to eat earlier. The black haired boy liked watching the different views pass by, having found some of his favorite hangout spots. Something caught his eye, ‘He, that guy looks familiar!’. Pressing his face and hands against further into the glass, his eyes focused on a basketball court until a house blocked his view. ‘ I’m pretty sure it was him,’ the islander boy sat back into his seat.

Killua opened one eye to check on the energetic buddy making a small commotion, “ What is it Gon?”

Turning to his seat, the twelve-year-old said “ Not much, I thought I saw someone I knew.”

Nodding his head to show him that he heard him, Killua then went back to sleep.

 

At the museum, the classes went to the lobby where they were  supposed to come back to to at 11:50 a.m. for lunch and sat down their stuff.

Kurapika then proceeded to give some last minute instructions. “Stay in your groups. You're free to go to whatever exhibit you want. Take notes on your phone and meet back here for lunch. Understand?” The blond recited in a raised voice, the kids chorused with a “yes!”. Watching the students go their separate ways, his mind had decided on going to the geology exhibit. This exhibit contained a sizable but small enough cave from “El Devil Paso” from Guatemala, the deepest and largest cave ever discovered. Kurapika walked to the left of the lobby and into the tunnel that led to the gems off of the space station. He stopped to read the plaques, not really learning too much new information besides a new scientific discovery with two snowflakes being found identical.

 

Chrollo walked through the museum, he was going to hit Saturday with Paku and Machi by his side in the geology department but stopped shortly after seeing his patient from yesterday. The thief was in a curved alcove so he hadn’t be seen the other man, the blond stated he wasn’t available and Chrollo simply had to move on. But the thought of fate holding his hand crossed his mind before he turned around to go further away from the blond. ‘If we see each other again. Then I’ll talk to him. It’s inconvenient with the other members here. Hitting on a person with them nearby wouldn’t keep a respectable image because there was a line of professionalism he couldn’t pass.

 

Kurapika moved on looking at chocolate pearls from Mexico which were seen as a rare find. Next to it was a decorated tortoiseshell worth $350,000 because of the fine placement of gems and elegant workmanship. The “El Paso Crystals” were huge enough to be in a room 15 ft by 9ft at least. The plague stated that their weight was equal to six elephants, around 600 pounds. He took pictures of the whole exhibit to show to his students if it was needed for a lesson plan, and also in case they skipped this section because ‘it was just rocks’. He was surprised when he found one of his students, a girl with blue hair, looking around the place alone. “Why are you here alone?” Kurapika came up to the girl who was staring at an emerald that inspired the chaos emerald from Sonic the Hedgehog.

The girl, Samantha, looked around before answering. “ I told my group I wanted to go here because they didn’t have an exhibit on plants so soil and gems were the next best option. I’m sure I heard one of them say yeah so I came over here thinking they’d follow. I guess not though.”She finished talking as she looked down at her shoes, pulling on her sleeves to cover her hands insides the stylish sweater sleeve holes.

“ I’ll stay with you until lunch when you can regroup or when we find your teammates.” He then let Samantha lead them through the geography exhibit, going back the way the blond had came. They ended up next to the human body and it’s interactive systems.

 

Gon had gone to the airplanes with Killua, his only group member. “ It’s just us again? I’m still pretty happy about Kurapika's eyes. Know what I mean?” The blacknet looked at his friend with shining eyes then pointed at a circular air track that looked interactive. He read the words on the sign hung on the exhibit, ‘So airplanes can take off of a straight runway but what about a round runway? What’s this?’ He pressed a button that said to charge the magnet enough times to find out. The arrow pointed to a big red button. Pushing it with a high five of his right hand. ‘Starting countdown 3...2….1’ the plane then started rising until it began to fly. It started going around in circles and Gon followed it excitedly like a cat following a laser.

Killua pushed the button again after the simulation ended. Gon eventually broke out of the enchanted trance.

“Hey Killua.” Killua then smirked mischievously with a catlike grin, “Ne?”. With a wide smile, Gon asked Killua, “ What other thing do you want to play?”.

Killua spotted the highlighted showcase, “Magic, Illusions, and Chance”. ‘ I do like playing darts, maybe that could that be in there?’.

Gon saw the other twelve-year-old wander off and followed him into a curved hallway to a gambling machine. “The Magic of Hope”, the machine was titled. The seat looked comfy with the red ball grip on the handle shining. ‘If it’s for educational purposes, there shouldn’t be a problem. They even provide fake money to play with.’ Killua talked himself into it, getting ready to sit.

Gon watched the gamble addict eye the slot machine. ‘We’re going to have the whole situation over again when I can’t pry him away from a game because he gets addicted again.’ Gon frowned, his inner Mito taking over. Grabbing Killua’s shirt with his right arm, the enhancer pulled his friend as he marched away from the danger

“Hey!”, Killua looked over his shoulder as he was dragged, he used his body weight to stall Gon’s momentum in the other direction.

“You’re not staying here all day to play those games. This is supposed to be an educational field trip.” Gon stated, feeling encouraged when he could finally see the exit.

“But you do things like playing games all the time,” Killua argued.

“Oh!” the blacknet let out as he loosened his grip on the blue shirt his friend was wearing. “You reminded me, I saw the guy who came to see Kurapika playing basketball on the way over here.” Gon turned to his friend to tell him.

Killua froze, ‘ that was the guy eyeing Gon. I have to go investigate but I can’t bring Gon along, its too dangerous and I have better skills when it comes to tracking down people. It’s better to do that than waste my time here.’ Killua changed his mind about what he wanted to do right now. “Gon I’ve got to go to the bathroom, can you let go?”

His friend eyed him before taking a step back and bringing his friend forward so Gon’s in between Killua and the machine. “Yeah,” Gon said, letting go and watching Killua leave the hallway.

‘The place where Gon made a commotion was at the houses of Fox Run. The guy’s most likely there.’ HE He took out his phone to pull up google maps to get better directions or a shortcut if possible. ‘I should have enough time to explore for two hours go and come back before lunch. If he’s alone, I’ll confront him.’ The twelve-year-old thought of the man who was eyeing Gon in a strange way.

 

Gon stayed in the place for a few minutes then went after Killua to wait for him outside the bathroom. The blacknet was surprised to find Killua walking past the men’s bathroom. Running up to him Gon tapped the blue-eyed boy on the shoulder who turned around, “Bathroom’s over there Killua, you walked past it,” the islander boy smiled as he pointed in the right direction.

“I’m not going to the bathroom,” Killua stated cursing in his head, he missed his opportunity. ‘There’s no way I’ll lose Gon again, he’ll probably wants to walk with me which means I won't have enough time to check out the guy. Oh well, as long as he’s with me he should be fine.’

“I’m going to stalk the guy you mentioned earlier. He’s suspicious.” Killua finished.

Gon stared at his friend, ‘ I wanted to go but the bus was moving and I‘d scare Kurapika if I jumped out of the moving vehicle right then. He didn’t seem bad to me, but if Killua saying he’s suspicious… then I’m worried about Kurapika. Maybe I should check this out too. “You need to take care of your friends”, Mito always taught me.’ Gon’s eyes lit with determination, Killua watched the stubbornness take over already having figured out what Gon was thinking before he heard Gon say, “I’m coming with you.”

“What happened to me telling you to stay where we were?” Killua tapped his foot on the floor impatiently.

“You’re the only one in our group besides me so I’d be waiting outside the bathroom for how long it takes. I’d have nothing better to do besides waiting for my friend.” Gon stated, his logic cutely simplistic . Killua turned around and conceded,.

“Let’s go.” The two made their way to the exit.

 

Chrollo stood in line with Paku at the food court while Machi went scouting for a good table.

“Have you heard Nobunaga's interested in a girl here?” Paku started a conversation.

The blacknet nodded his head. “Shalnark’s been looking antsy, it wasn't hard to tell he was trying to hide something when he was interrogated by Phinks.”

“It’s hard for him to keep a secret”. Paku replied, thinking of how many times he found something either really gruesome or very weird on the internet and sharing it with everyone in the nearby vicinity.

“Maybe he’ll have better luck this time and we won’t have to console him with  beers.” The grey-eyed man remembered Nobu’s silent and blank face while he sat in a corner every time his date left him.

“Nobunaga has a better chance, not counting on Phinks and Feitan knowing and proving the girl away,” her tone held a hint of sarcasm. ‘ Although Feitan and Phinks’ pranks aren’t traumatizing, they can be pretty overwhelming.’ Paku thought of one of Nobu’s old dates. A poor redhead, her freckles added charm to her. Since Nobunaga had a hard time keeping secrets, his love life was out there for the troupe members to pry with, specifically nosy ones like Feitan and Phinks.

“Do you remember when we found out Kortopi had pet rats?”

“Yes, I do. But Kortopi stopped having pets after Hisoka used them for a magic trick.” Chrollo remembered the twitching bodies of the rats as the redheaded clown left the scene with an “oopsie daisy” with shrugging his shoulders.

“Is he actually visiting Saturday?” Paku adjusted the bracelet she wore.

“Machi told me he was in town so he should be able to come.” Chrollo trailed off knowing this was one of the things he was going to have to give thought to, whether to let him join them this saturday or call him off.

“He’s already skipped twice before. When we toss the coin he seems to be oddly lucky. I don’t want him hiding behind that to do whatever he wants. I doubt he won’t take the liberty.” Paku predicted about the demented clown.

“We know about his Bungee Gum, he actually used it to alter the coin once. If he cheats and messes up again, I’ll use Grief Nightmare on him.” Chrollo suggested to his second in command to help ease her suppressed anxiety about the situation.

Paku digested the information. ‘Hmm.. isn’t Grief Night used for attacking or information gathering? I believe that when the target becomes unconscious, their fears are trapped around them inside of a hallucinatory allusion. I wonder what Hisoka would fear,  either way, it's a pretty beneficial skill.’

“Ok.” The gunslinger said, liking the strategy her Danchou had invented. Placing their order and standing off to the side to wait. Their Danchou had paid for all their meals as an encouragement for them to do a good job in their next heist.

“Let’s go to the I-MAX movie theater”,  the Danchou suggested to kill time and give them an alibi if the police would ever go back to the cameras to check the customers out.

 

Kurapika had taken a seat with his student next to him when he sent Gon a text.

_Kurapika:Would you be interested in the I-MAX movie“War on Aliens”? It’s about invasive plant species. There’s still time to catch the showing at 9:30 am. Come and sit with me and Samantha.’_

‘ Those two are in a group by themselves so one more shouldn't be too much to track, unlike a group of six. I don't know about Killua, but Gon’s attentive and will most likely be interested in this’. ’

Gon checked his buzzing phone in his pockets as the two boys ran on the sidewalk while people were giving questioning looks at the two kids who were out running during school hours. Coming to a streetlight with a flashing red hand, Gon stopped watching his friend dart across with a straight, determined eyes. Gon gasped in fear. Cars were moving and going about. ‘Did he get hit?! I can’t see him.’ Craning his body to one side to get a better view his chest was filled with anxiety as he cried out his best friend’s name.

“Killua!”

 

Killua turned around to find Gon on the other side of the street backtracking to the post. “ You should’ve crossed!” He shouted to Gon and he stuffed his hands in his short’s pockets.

“You shouldn’t have! The light was solid red. You could’ve been hit.” The blacknet pointed his finger at him, yelling loud enough to be heard over the cars.

“The light was flashing when I crossed.” The gambler argued.

Gon stared, not responding, ‘ Yeah I saw it flashing, but it was about to stop pedestrians from crossing. You could have gotten hurt.’ Bringing his phone up with a huff, Gon saw a text message from Kurapika. ‘Kurapika noticed we left?’, eyes widening at the screen he clicked it open and read the message. He let out a sigh of relief but then felt guilt, then absolute panic. ‘We’re not even in the building. I’m standing on Green and Washington's corner. How am I supposed to tell him I left? I’m I even supposed to tell him. But lying is bad...’ Biting his lip, his mind went blank as to what to send to Kurapika.

Killua crossed back over to Gon when the light changed to see why his friend wasn’t coming over. “What’s the problem?” Reading the text upside down. When he read it, he took Gon;s phone and quickly typed in a message.

_Gon: No thanks. I’ve already seen it._

“Did you lie to Kurapika?” Gon read the screen over his friend’s shoulder.

“Nope, they have promotional trailers with clips from the thing. We’ve seen it when we were looking up the museum. Kudzu plants in South America remember?” Looking at the golden-eyed boy, he nodded. Turning around to see the green light, Killua started crossing with his friend behind him this time. “We have to keep walking until we reach Domino Lane.” The candylover said before breaking into a run.

 

Kurapika read the text sent from Gon. ‘I see, well I’m staying until lunch.’ The lights dimmed as the show started playing on the large screen with doors automatically locking themselves.

 

Danchou and the other two spiders found the I-MAX close, but missed the show. Since the next one was six minutes away from starting,  they decided to wait outside in silence.

Kurapika came out with Samantha and the two headed to the human body exhibit. Kurapika saw a group which he surprisingly noticed the eye doctor from this week. He told Samantha that he wanted some water and she agreed to wait for him as he got his drink. The water fountain was close enough, and as he looked up with only his eyes, he traced him with his eyes and slowly followed him and his companions. ‘Avoiding him is going to be harder than I thought.’ Pushing his hair back behind his ear, he was going to keep stalking the eye doctor but he heard Samantha asking him a question, “How does hair grow?”

The blond then launched into an answer using his hands to demonstrate it.

Chrollo walked to the Jurassic section, glancing at a video explaining how the Dolyerasaurse hunted. ‘ This would make an interesting item to sell in York New’s auctions”. ‘ Strange, I felt eyes on me when we went to the show, but it looks like they left now.’ He warned his spiders just in case. Finished walking through the section, Paku suggested going to the Egyptian exhibit after as a group.

Kurapika checked his phone. “ It’s 11:12 a.m., we could stay in here or go and start on another one?” Kurapika asked his partner.

“Actually, I would prefer to go to another exhibit now”, Samantha answered before she and Kurapika walked to the human body.

 

Gon and Killua had run all the way to the basketball court to get a closer view of the guy. ‘It’s confirmed, he’s the person.’ The two were across the street as they looked around for a good place to hide. There were a few trees to sit under, but no good coverage to help them hide. Only grass surrounded the court.

“There are four other guys besides the guy sitting on the blue plastic bench.”

“Killua, we’ll go past the neighborhood to that street and we can get closer to hide behind the fence- on their other side.” Gon suggested, glancing and looking ahead. Killua agreed and the two boys got in position to overhear the cars better so they won't be in the way.  

 

Shalnark was waiting for Uvo to get beer from the Dollar Store a block away, sitting under a tree and leaning against the bark. He felt his nen pick up on tension to his left and behind. Clicking the camera on his phone ad raising it higher, he saw two boys hiding behind the fence as he easily faked messing around with his hair so he wouldn't be noticed spying on these kids.

 

 


	9. The Machine of Hope

Shalnark made sure the two boys were actually spying before he hummed catching Feiten's attention with his superior hearing. The blond and blacknet shared a look with the torturer eyes locked where the manipulator could be looking.

Feiten dashed to where the two boys were hidden poorly grabbing the two by the scuff of their necks. "Talk. Why stare?"

Killua's paralyzed for a second then moved to remove the hand near his throat.

Gon in surprise squeaked trying to turn his head to view the person. "We're here to see Nobunaga," the blacknet paused then whispered to Killua, "Did I say his name right?"

"I think it's much more imperative he let's go of our necks," the whitenet turned his glare to Gon mouthing, don't say our names Gon!

Sorry Killua, the blacknet responded.

"See Nobunaga Killua," Feitein read the student's lips. Tightening his grip on the back of their necks the spider dragged the two boys into view of the samurai.

Phinks grinned tossing the basketball harder between his hands making a sound like bones snapping. "Someone decided to join us?"

Nobunaga recognized the two students starting to writher in pain from Feitian's abundance generosity of giving pain. "The two are fine."

Feitein eyes flicked to Shalnark to get his assessment who nodded. The interrogator lets go taking a step back and putting his hands in his sleeves glaring at the two boys. "Talk."

"This will probably work out better if you two answer my questions then I'll try to answer yours," Shalnark stood from his position smiling at the two boys as he moved closer. "You two spying or another action you could argue tends to put people on edge." Ending with another pause waiting for Nobunaga to deal with his business.

"Well..?" Phinks sneered who gave a pointed look to the samurai who everyone was forced to wait on. "They involved themselves with all of us so you can't ask for privacy."

Nobunaga scoffed taking the two boys from Feitein and marched them relatively away, under a tree with their backs turned to the group. A stare down occurred between Killua and Nobunaga not willing to give in both thought themselves right.

Nobunga thought ‘I just saved your butts Feitain can be pretty nasty.'

Killua thought ‘You're the whole reason for this mess.'

Gon shoot his first question, "We're worried about you being with Kuraprika and the kid in black isn't making it easy for us to trust you." Gon frowned at his first impression of the man, worried about making the correct choice.

Feitein let out a growl then got distracted from Phinks laughing his ass off repeating the word kid until it's incomprehensible. Shalnark had a chuckle at his expense too.

The group under the tree see what the commotion is about and viewed a lava evaporating glare from the said ‘kid.'

Gon leaned closer, "Oh is he not? He's just so----"

Killua hit his friend over the head, shushing him.

"I can see why you're worried but I only came here to kill time. I don't spend a lot of time with Feitein regularly."

"What do you mean by kill time? What are you waiting for?" Killua interrogates having caught the slip of the tongue.

"What Nobunaga means is I asked him to kill time. I'm waiting for a digital program to download and it would take a few hours. I live by here and like playing basketball so I asked him to come over. We found these two already playing here," Shalnark motioned with a hand to Phinks and Feitein then continued to elaborate. "We decided to not waste any more time driving around looking for an empty park so we suggested playing against each other as teams. I guess the hype from our challenging game got the two riled up," the munpailtor shrugged his shoulders and laughed apologetically.

"That makes sense, "Gon nodded "animals tend to get rougher the longer they've played for."

Killua mumbled something about fun sizes under his breath making Gon laugh. The whitenet had decided the group of men was playing nice, using distractions and trying to look not as threatening as long as Killua and Gon played along. This opportunity to spy was shoot.

"I know you want to go on dates with Kuraprika so do you got anything else planned?" Gon whispered to the samurai not worried as much but still needed more details.

"Hmm," the samurai gave a completed look to Gon. "Do you want to help me? You seem pretty excited about the situation."

Shalnark checked the time on his phone. ‘Uvogin should be back soon from getting alcohol at the store. We should finish this up otherwise the story I told won't be as believable.' "Before you go too far into details I have a question. Aren't you two supposed to be at school?"Shalnark stood with his arms akimbo giving a stern look to the preteens.

Nobunaga paused to examine the guilty look Gon produced while Killua seemed nonchalant. "Yeah…"

"We're on a field trip right now so we could afford to sneak—"the blacknet paused trying to find a less incriminating word stalling out in the end and looked toward the whitenet.

"What he means is we did all the work and went to all the places we wanted to so we had free time."

"Kuraprika's not going to like that and I do doubt you have all the work done. I'm sure there's a lot of work," the samurai crossed his arms over his chest then made unpleased sounds with the chocolate lover.

"We only had to take notes with our phones they could be pictures and be ready to talk about the trip in school tomorrow," Gon supplied to clear the confusion.

Shalnark assumed Kuraprika is a teacher from the information he gathered, "Kuraprika's your teacher whose job is to make sure you're safe and accounted for. This outing could be a risk to Kuraprika's job."

"Seriously?!" Gon panicked who grabbed his friend's arm to start the journey back to the museum.

Gon and Killua got into the building at 11:42 then dashed to the bathroom to get rid of any sweat on them with paper towels. The two took a seat next to the teacher and Samantha who mumbled a hello.

Killua started eating his sandwich taking a large chunk.

‘'Have you been enjoying the field trip and taking notes?" Kurapika reminded the two of their task so they don't' get screwed.

Gon said "Killua liked the slots," chewing on his apple and making it disappear almost like magic.

"Slots?" Kurapika's eyebrows furrowed his voice lowered eyeing the whitnet then starred at Gon till he elaborated.

"It's education in the museum," Killua added to please pika mom.

"There was a plaque explaining B.F.Skinner and interval variable reinforcement. " Gon went into details.

"I've gone to the movie, gems, plus the human body with Kuraprika." Samantha sipped from her Kool-Aid having followed the conversation. "Where do you want to go to next?" she mumbled.

"The space odyssey?" Gon suggested while Killua agreed. The four finish lunch with the kids going to Space and Kurapika to the Machine of Hope as Gon and Killua described.  Having read direction signs Kuraprika stood in front of the casino like entrance glittering on level 2. ‘ Leorio and this would get along.' Kurapika laughed at the idea in his head. The blond marched in to watch a video screen perform a classic find the card trick.

"Would you like to see the trick miss?" a voice belonging to a redhead questioned.

Kurapika turns to see the flamboyant character, makeup created a pink heart and blue tear on his cheeks with a white show off belly shirt and pink ringed shirt underneath. Kurapika was repulsed like a negative magnet to another. "No thank you. I'm moving on," eyes already set on another exhibit and sidestepping the man.

 Around the corner, Kurapika saw the unmistakable short black hair bandaged wearing pervert eye doctor. Heaving a sigh and promptly turning around to exit the museum's casino but instead is face to face with the redhead who watched Kurapika's gaze. "Wow. I've never seen a person react unattracted to him," Hisoka's voice hides his mischief like an albino alligator in mud, "I'm curious about what happened?"

The blond blushed then in a lowered voice hissed his reply, "can you just let me pass?" Kuraprika felt the urge to check over his shoulder to see where Chrollo was. A distance away but if he turned his head then the blond would be screwed.

"I can let you go," the redhead raised his voice directed it past Kuraprika's shoulder, "Dancho."  Hisoka mumbled to the blond, "but he's got to let you go."

Chrollo heard his name and saw Hisoka and someone who looked familiar he's holding by the arm.

Paku narrowed her eyes not liking the stunt this had turned into. The group of spiders walked over to where Hisoka was.

Kurapika hissed at Hisoka having pryed his hand off by the pressure point of his thumb, "this isn't letting me pass.'

Hisoka smirked after he raised a finger to tsk at the blond, "but I can't let you escape before Dancho gives his opinion."

Chrollo stopped eyeing the blond who's back straightened.' Kuraprika's eyes were probably on me at the I-Max,' the blacknet pieced together the feeling of having been watched earlier.

"Do you know her?" Hisoka asks casually enough turning her around with his bungee gum.

Chrollo doesn't have to ask her to remove her hand. "Your luck hasn't changed," the blacknet spoke to the embarrassed party then turned his attention to Hisoka, "let her be on her way."

"Why's she's avoiding you?" The redhead pouts out his bottom lip acting as concerned as he could muster without breaking out into glee at this situation, he had finally found something that could be possibly used to get his fight with Chrollo.

Kurapika turned to Hisoka firmly stated "No. You're not going to get much out of him he wants to avoid talking about it since it's embarrassing for him."

Hisoka raised an eyebrow smiling ‘Now I'm extremely curious. I'll have to find you later for questioning.' the magician calculated.

"He's let go. You should leave," Chrollo told the blond.

Inspecting his left arm Kurapika fled past Hisoka whose still smiling.

"We're leaving," Chrollo stated, having come to this one to see if anything valuable was here.

Hisoka calls to Chrollo "You'll talk about the embarrassing moment later?" with the new order to leave with the troupe he couldn't interrogate the blond as soon he liked to, though the excitement from the wait will also be inviting.

Machi sent a stare to the magician to make him be quiet, "Dancho could tell you if he felt like it otherwise stay out of business you're not invited to." The sewstress followed with the rest of the group out of the exhibit.

Kurapika had retreated to the floor above hiding in the less popular wildlife exhibit on a bench. Taking deep breaths to relax the goosebumps away. ‘I remember hearing them leave but I don't want to go out and check. Wrong ideas galore. Though Hisoka's dangerous which means I'll have to change my plans.'

Kuraprika tried to relax being all wound up won't do him any good for the rest of the day.

 

 


	10. Definition

At the school, Killua and Gon waited for Kurapika with Leorio who sat in the driver's seat of his car.

"I went and got food in case Kurapika took a long time," Leorio explained jokingly out his opened window.

"I'm not serving ill-prepared food and possibly getting my guests sick. I put snacks out and you didn't share with Gon or Killua," Kurapika reminded the doctor.

"Did you get the cashews?" Gon asked his attention flown past what jokes the doctor told.

"The Christmas cashews you put in the oven for 315 degrees with brown sugar?" the blond asked a clarification question.

"Yes," both kids cheered.

"Those were worth the wait last time Leorio," corrected his previous statement.

Getting in the car as Leorio increased the volume, one arm hung out the window as he sung loudly to Little Mix Shout Out to my Ex with bad chorus included.

Killua sighed slinging throwing his head back "at least he isn't trying to do Shakira Hips Don't Lie Leorio's Spanish is horrible.”

"My Spanish is perfectly fine. I can say Vienna," Leorio argued playfully with the boy in the back seat.

"I remember when Killua taught us the word and the pronunciation is nya. Like a cat, so it's easier to remember." Gon repeated the nya noise as the group broke into laughter.

Gon carried the old karaoke machine to Kurapika's door once they arrived. Killua and Leorio were loaded with food in their arms. Kurapika opened the door to let his guests go first then put his bag on the floor near the couch as he went to the kitchen. The Kurta pulled the food he premade on Wednesday- Christmas cashews, devil eggs, caramel apples and caseo butter chili. The fries would have to cook in the oven with the chicken. The blond carried them out along with fruit to place them on the table in the living room.

"Usually for drinks?" Kurapika asked and was answered by multiple yeses. Kuraprika poured milk for Gon and got an orange crush for Killua.

The two boys plugged the karaoke machine in. Leorio grabbed the microphone clicking it on and slid in his socks to the prompter, " because you mentioned it so lovingly Killua as my adoring fan I'll sing Shakira Hips Don't Lie." The two male's eyes glinted at each other as they made plans for a troll war of domination.

Gon looked through the discs trying to find his favorite song when he happened on a new cd. The blacknet waited for Leorio to finish before he asked, "what's on this disc?" holding the side with writing on it for the hip shaker to see. Bent over to read the hot pink writing Leoerio commented, "Chloe's cd, she's my ex."

"I'll sing from this to see what's on it,'' Gon popped it in having received the microphone from Leorio. Watching the machine as it loaded and played the first song.

Ay ee ay ee ay Ay ee ay ee ay Waits for Samurai.

Kurapika coughed the liquid from his drink into the glass, the sound conveniently covered by Gon's singing the simple lyric song. Shifted in his seat the blond hummed to try to block the lyrics from his ears but when the colors started getting sung the redhead and blackhead intruded into his thoughts. Taking the sweat from the glass and tapping his face to gain his composure. Gon moved on from the short song as Killua got his turn.

The islander boy plopped onto the couch next to the blond "Thanks for having us Kurapika," smiling at the blond Gon noticed the teacher was distracted with his reply's not being as quick again. "You've been spacing out more than usual. You ok?"

"Yeah, I was in thought," the blond replied crossing his fingers the questions Gon would throw at him wouldn't be too hard and increase his suspicions.

"What were you thinking about?" Gon continued his questioning.

"Your song had me thinking of the Japan era with dojo hunting," Kurapika started logically blocking the samurai from his head but he'd have to work on the other two.

"We're going to be learning about them in class and you're thinking about our lesson plan?" Gon can't keep the enthusiasm out of his voice he didn't know about the exotic term dojo hunting.

Kurapika cringed internally deciding he'd do it for educational purposes but he might not like it. "No, we have material to cover for the school curriculum."

Gon turned to the blond sitting on the couch in criss-cross applesauce now, "Can you tell me about it then since we won't be learning about it in school?"

"This is generally accepted as the culture because its origins were hard to determine as people didn't document everything during this time period. There were fighters in Japan's old history era who would go to martial arts training schools to take their banner or the title of the school written on a plague. The school or institution would protect themselves by winning the fight against the said fighters. The master or the best discipline would fight them. The costs don't seem to be high stakes but the culture highly valued honor at the time. Therefore, losing the banner meant losing disciples or students to the school and consequences would be the loss of money. The challenger would get fame and privileges in the area like becoming a local legend. Most of the time it was to test their strength or for the glory of victory. Schools could fight each other, and did especially if they were rivals," the blond explained Gon nodded his head in rapt attention.

Leorio overheard wanting to add to the conversation about the guy who attacked Kurapika being a dojo hunter, but this was a party and he didn't want to ruin it so he waited until Gon's duet with Killua to go talk to Kurapika.

"Have you seen that guy from the dojo?" Leorio leaned in to whisper to the blond. The doctor took ice to put in a cup with his beer.

‘‘Yeah. We probably should talk it got complicated," the blond announced subtly.

Leorio followed like a shark whose smelt blood "When did you meet?" interrupting the song the two kids were playing.

"On Friday than Monday. The first time it was the two of us and then Gon and Killua meet the man the last time." The blond replied with a frown. ‘I wanted to gently ease into this topic so I wouldn't have to negotiate my friends down from being worry warts.' The Kurta thought, ‘this hasn't started off great.'

"We meet him?" Gon jumped in shaking his head at the possibility.

"He was the man who waited for me in the classroom when I gave you two extra help," the Kurta turned to the kids who had pressed pause on the machine.

"To clarify this was the person we sent you off to be alone with and you confirmed you were waiting for on Tuesday when Gon asked you?" Killua tries to iron out the details. "This then leads to what new conclusion you have to tell us?"

"Thank you for steering in the right direction Killua. After I talked with the man he stated he didn't want to fight but instead he wanted to be loose friends. In which he has been persistent in spending time with me. I doubt the situation will change," the blond hit the root of the problem.

Gon threw in, "sorry. I thought he was nice," the blackette looked apologetic at the blond on the couch.

Killua's eyes surveyed the reactions of his friends thinking, ‘I knew the guy was shady when I saw him.'

"You've all meet him and not me!? How'd that happen?" Leorio reacted pointing at the other occupants of the room. "What about calling the police?"

"He found me after he followed me from the lineup call from the police station, "Kurapika explained the information he traded his name for.

"Has he treated you well? Not harming you?" Gon asked as he frowned then stood to check for injuries the blond might have.

"Yes, though he will tick me off on occasion, which leads us to the complications." Kuraprika directed his words at Leorio," I don't believe the disclosed information is a complication as the information is leaning toward a way to solve the problem by him not attacking people. But a new problem occurred with a man named Chrollo and his friend Hisoka who seems to be liable to use force. Chrollo's hitting on me which I can deal with but Hisoka seems interested in finding information out about the relationship between me and Chrollo, he stated so in the museum when I meet the man in a confrontation. I don't doubt I'll be talking to him again. I'm telling you so you can possibly avoid him or anybody Hisoka might accompany," the blond answered to the best of his abilities. Biting his tongue when the thought of Hisoka being possible trouble for Nobunaga occurred.

"I take back my comments about wanting your looks to attract ladies." Leorio shook his head.

The two boys nodded. Killua thinks, ‘we already went near the samurai guy.' The whitenet risked a glance over to Gon to see if he was going to spill the secret, then decided he wasn't. The whittette discarded the information not needing it anymore.

"Hisoka's a redhead who wears makeup on his cheeks of a heart and a tear. He's Caucasian and around 6 foot with a few inches added. He wears white pants and a white crop top with the suits on it. A pink undershirt and matching color wristbands and armbands."

"What does Chrollo look like?" Killua asked popping food in his mouth now the conversation had simmered.

"He has short onyx hair and grey eyes. Around two inches shorter than Hisoka. He's Caucasian and wears a bandage around his forehead. He and Hisoka seem to have a connection but I don't know what kind. I can't assume with how little I know either men," Kurapika explained having pushed his hair behind his ear.

Kurapika heard the stove timer beep for him to serve the fries he made. Returning to the table with small bowls of ketchup and ranch for dipping along with a huge platter of fries with seasoning salt and table salt in his pockets. "I think we covered what I wanted to talk about. I'll avoid them, for now since I don't have a lot of information on either one. I also don't want you peaking Hisoka's interests. "Kurapika returned to pick the microphone and a song. The blond had to bite his tongue a lot during his song when the group could freely talk easier. Mentioning that being around Nobunaga on purpose for protection because he's a good fighter and not one of his friend wasn't going to go over well.

"I guess it works but we had a discussion about telling us when something happened Kurapika," Leorio reminded the Kurta of his promise as he started to do the hand motions for the secret shake.

Kurapika smiled as he nodded, "I invited you over to have this conversation." The Kurta bent to press play, "I did reading about how to sing. You have no chance of beating my score."

Taking the bait Leorio raised his chin in challenge. "Walk the walk first and then see me win." Jumping onto the couch to be a spectator to a night filled with karaoke.

Kurapika was ready for work as he felt relaxed after his friends came over. The lessons in school revolved around the notes from the museum.

Hisoka watched Kuraprika walk home noticing his potential the redhead licked his lips. ‘The choice was how to proceed.' The redhead smiled proceeding to walk to the group from behind. "Hello."

Kurapika turned around to see Hisoka a frown etching it's self on the blonde's face while his muscles tensed. The Kurta narrowed his eyes, "I don't want to see you but I doubt you'll leave me alone."

"You seem to not want to see many people "Hisoka referred to the event in the museum.” I think you know what I want so I won't ask," wearing a grin after his gum was attached.

"Only thing you need?" Kurapika questioned as he proceeded with caution. With an attempt to back away slowly but felt a tautness prevent him, activating gyo to see a pink string attached between the two men. ‘Escapes not likely. I don't know its properties,' Kurapika sighed. "The problem that occurred was he asked me to be his girlfriend and I rejected him. It's awkward for most people." The blond kept his answer short and watched the man's reaction, not taken with liking it.

"Hmmm." Hisoka's eyes narrowed, "reasons?" The golden eyes focused on the blond's profile.

The teacher felt a shiver on his spine, "I'm not looking for someone my lives too busy to accommodate." Kurapika didn't want to have the redhead invested but being close to him made Kuraprika want to hold his breath for minutes if it got less attention.

"That's not what I mean I asked why you rejected him. I didn't ask to be given an excuse, "the redhead's voice deepened to show his authority on the battlefield.

Kuraprika gulped as he shifted slightly into a fighting stance, "When I told you I was busy I meant not to give you information."

"Now, how am I supposed to scratch your back without you doing mine? I want the chance to fight Chrollo and his bodyguard's reactions to you was the museum was your first meeting. Were you perhaps alone with Chrollo?" The redhead pulled the redhead to his open hand to clutch around the blond's throat.

Kuraprika gazed into the murder's eyes. ‘The answer was a yes but he had given no guarantee I'd be let free. Also if he wants Chrollo to fight him then he might think to kill me will enrage the doctor.' Kuraprika wrapped his legs around Hisoka in an attempt to do a throw or a choke hold. The effort left him suspended by a light post as if he was being hung to death, nowhere in physical range.

The magician slide a deck of cards between his two open palms, "You better say otherwise I'm going to have to come back and say hello again."

"Ye-aahh," Kuraprika coughed as he clawed at the Bungee Gum the seconds were passing when the blond would pass out. Trapped in the corner of the mind that screamed for him to survive. Need air. Need gone. Pink gone. Air. Air. Air! Air!!! Kuraprika activated his scarlet eyes to pull the suffocating junk down. When the blonde's feet could touch the ground he collapsed onto his knees as his arm got caught in the mess forcing his eyes to watch Hisoka.

The redhead smirked. ‘I see you're not wasting your time Chrollo but you don't know about the scarlet eyes otherwise you would've taken them. Curious how fate brought you two so close together but now we're closer because this is going to be our little secret.'

Kuraprika caught the redhead let out a chuckle as the feeling of wanting to smash his face in made his eyes burn hotter than a phoenix. Then the feeling was dashed when the redhead waved his arm in "Goodbye…" waiting for the blond to fill in the name.

"Chloe," Kuraprika coughed out like a hairball as he rubbed his throat the skin feeling like sandpaper.

Kuraprika recovered as he collected his things he found his cellphone out of the pocket. After an examination with gyo, he deemed it safe and Hisoka had his phone number probably or his real name. The run home made his throat sorer like he swallowed an acid's worth of Niagara Falls but being home made up for it.

Chrollo had noticed Hisoka leave then come back smirking. ‘He's started trouble. Probably with the blond….I wonder' Chrollo thought then returned to his book not being pulled into Hisoka's game like a lonely doll.

 

 


	11. Man to Man

 

Kuraprika's ready for work when he notices the mail under the door an envelope with no address or name on it beside his own. Narrowing his eyes and suing gyo he investigates it worried about Hisoka being playful as he would call it. ‘There's nothing on it,' Kuraprika surmised bending to pick it up then reading the information.

_It's only an invitation but if you'd like to come then I'd be more than happy. You could call me an informant about a certain redhead, that's only if you fancy that name. Meet me at Spicrils and Pose tonight at the opera house. Otherwise, there's something that Hisoka might have that belongs to you. Please dress in fancy attire it is a formal event at the theater._

 Kuraprika grumbled, ‘another short notice come hither that's suspicious and I don't want to go to,' the blond stuffed the paper into his bag and blew out the door. ‘Honestly, there's probably not much else that could—‘the Kurta stopped thinking to feel nen around the doorknob he was about to put his hand on. Another note dangled from it with a drawn red heart on it. After a peek to see no one was around the scarlet eyes opened the paper with his dowsing chain the thing vibrating like mad as Kuraprika weighed if it was a good decision or not.

 It's instinctive this note was left by Hisoka with the pink substance now gone.

It's a gift if you do what the first note says underneath is a picture of a scarlet eye on some kind of table with light filtering through the window.

‘What the hell?! Who would put something like my people's eyes on display?!' ripping up the piece of paper then using en to see if Hisoka might be in the area but he's not. Guess there's no choice but to go there tonight.

 

 

The night air made Chrollo want to think as he stared at the stars, absentmindedly naming the constellations. His hands were stuffed into his three-piece tuxedo piece, being early for his date with Kurapika, if the blond came then he smiled as he sensed the blond's presence he turned his head toward him.

Kurapika walked faster to the blacknet once he realized the other was now definitely waiting for him to not be rude.' There was also the fact that Hisoka seemed to go wherever Chrollo went being with the blacknet was nice bait. " Hello," letting out a breath unevenly.

Chrollo smiled to break the ice, telling the blond was on edge the last encounters are likely to blame but opportunity and options come together quite often. Turning around slowly for them to enter the ticket window. "I think you'll enjoy the violin it seems to be tight strung like you are tonight though I might understand the feeling."

Kurapika was happier with the safer topic having noticed the fleeting glances from others at the seemingly couple of men. ‘Psychology perception and in group thinking. Peer pressure does exist.' The blonde noticed the male and primarily female couples in formal wear.

The blonde felt unprepared in the suit he asked Leorio to let him borrow, redoing all the stitches himself and with Gon's help as he got trained by his mother. The doctor raised a brow while Killua made a joke ‘Your taste is getting worse if you're asking Leorio.' Kurapika retaliated with we know Leorio's broke so he's a good source to find cheap suits that look good Killua. The assassin thinks ‘Leorio does like giving me money. So he's broke.'

"I'm sure I'll like it. I wanted to see the duet of Karoi the violinist and her partner the paniost Kousei, unfortunately, Karoi died and the show was canceled." The distraction had the blonde starting to relax or at least he thought so enough to maybe allow Hisoka to answer him somehow.

"I'll pay for the tickets," Chrollo told the blond as the two entered a line behind two other couples. "The two were a couple, her death might make him more passionate hopefully." The grey-eyed man knew disaster could drag people down but the music was worthy of appreciation so he liked if the pianist got stronger.

"There are many influential people who had mental disorders. There's power in moods and emotions." The blonde expressed making himself dig deeper into the topic so it wouldn't' be small chat." One of the most influential studies would be the Stanford Prison study done by Philip Zimbardo."

Chrollo smiled the study was famous and one of his favorites. Revealing humanities insides one of his favorite things to do when he uses Bandit Secret, exploring a person. "As Shakespeare would say there are daggers in men's smiles."

Kurapika nodded " Shakespeare is known for his themes of violence, power, and sexuality."

"I wouldn't say the theme of the known Scottish play, as it's distasteful to say it's real name in here at the moment, it's humanities theme."

The blonde shifted from foot to foot in blanched silence.

"That's too heavy isn't it?" The blacknet eyes connect with the other's smiling apologetically as he rubs his neck as if uncomfortable with the tension causing topic.

Kurapika shakes his head, blinking his eyes, a new emotion lite in them. "No. I'm fine with it. The topic should be faced if you don't jump in you won't be able to do or change anything."

Chrollo nodded at the seemingly humanistic and behavioral response. He handled the topic surprisingly well, throwing it right back at me. Saying and doing something is entirely different. I should test him later. Always looking for a situation of stealing a wallet. Even if it was a small amount of money inside, you take everything there is to give because if you don't someone else will.

 "Ah, but there's a problem with your logic." the blacknet casts a small smile boarding on a frown to the ground, playing to the blonde's humanism. "The one in charge doesn't wish for a change too well." walking to a teller who smiled too kindly at them for normal customer service. "One adult and one minor ticket each." Chrollo slid the cash underneath the plastic screen. Expecting the brunette women to make small chat and she did.

"What makes you two fine gentleman come to our establishment tonight?" her eyes sparkling and dashing between the two like a hyper puppy not wanting to give either stick-up.

"I don't have many friends who'd enjoy classical music so I decided to drag someone with me who wouldn't fall asleep." motioning with his hand and a smile to the blonde who stood further back from the teller, placing a smile on his face at the joke.

"Of course. I hope you enjoy the love sonnets." handing the tickets with a higher pitched giggle.

Taking the tickets the two men continue their talk on the walk to enter the auditorium and find seats. Kurapika responds to the dilemma Chrollo predicted " The places of a person wanting change and not can't stay stable. Hitler shows this. If it can go one way then it can go the other."

Chrollo lets the blonde find two seats, taking the one closer to the aisle. Talking about time would lead to a dead end.

Kurapika found the seat comfy and crisscrossed familiarizing himself with the inside as he'll probably never come here again to be on the socially safe side, craning his neck smoothly.

Chrollo smiled at the inspection of the other. His intelligence was high with the mentality of a child, eager and in love with learning. Refreshing to not see someone go stagnant because they felt comfortable. The ability aiding with Hisoka, though the redhead might use it as a resource. His goals are in mind.

"I look forward to tonight., it should be relaxing compared to other days." referring to dates with Nobunaga, they were energizing, like a roller coaster, a nervous mix of anticipation getting on or waiting to. The tracks moved you forward and you were committed to having fun as you rode. Leaping off to rush to join the line again. Eventually too much and you'll get a headache, he learned that when he went to Lakeside with his friends.

"Is the thought your smiling at a secret or can I know?' Chrollo asked as he leaned closer to whisper conspiringly to the blond as the lights dimmed and the curtain rose to reveal a piano of grand and master size.

Kurapika turned his head to whisper " I'm thinking of my friend's reaction."

The two listen until a violinist comes onto the stage, polite clapping occurred.

Chrollo finds a perfect target, an old lady with a puffy train dress, something easy to trip over for a cover story if necessary. Making her trip she fell with a loud ‘ummph' with a face plant into the carpet

Seeing the blonde in his line of vision go over to the woman. Gently pulling her up by both of her arms " Let me help you." Once she was standing the Kurta retrieved her hand purse " Please be careful mamn." handing it over with a smile. The old lady took it saying " Thank You, Kyle. It's been so long since I last saw you. I'll be sure to tell your mother about this' squinting her eyes.

Kurapika nods, stepping out of the way, scanning the floor for glasses but not finding any, starting to frown. ‘She'll trip all over again.' The scarlet eyes thought.

Chrollo comes from behind tugging on the helper's sleeve " she wasn't wearing glasses Kurapika."

The same thing happens with an attendant being yelled at for his seat being given away. A wallet was stolen with an accuser and a lost ticket with a child attached. By the end of the night, Kurapika was exhausted and giving an apologetic smile to Chrollo.

The blacknet smiled, waving away the apology the blonde was about to state, "It's alright. Don't add to your mental tension. I'm glad I got to prove I picked the right person tonight.' leaving the blonde.

A curiosity burned in Chrollo's mind, he might have found a way to answer the question that had plagued him. Kuraprika could be a proper candidate like he thought he was with the morality and the intelligence. Though to get his reactions is something that will take time I might take more time off from my hobby at the eye doctor's. Following the constellations with his eyes, already thinking of the best way. The way that left nothing to waste or rot.

 

 

It's been a few days for Chrollo and he's come up with the skeleton of a plan for Kuraprika but there's a metaphoric acid: Hisoka. Waiting for the other to let his guard down enough for Chrollo to use Zetsu without giving away his position to the redhead, preventing him from making any further plans. Opening his Bandit Secret as the blacknet lounged on a plush couch to prevent any accidental injuries that could occur when he woke up from visiting Hisoka.

The connection seemed to be unstable for a few moments as a place in Hisoka's mind is established where the two can talk is created while the magician is forced into a deeper sleep than the one he's in already.

Chrollo blinks his eyes to see the redhead sitting across from him in a coffee house as the man rested his chin on his two hands with a smile on his face, not acting one bit surprised. ‘'I do love surprises especially ones in fur coats that look like yours Chrollo but this seemed to be out of the way for you," the redhead pouted like he was absoultoutly devastated with worry about what was going through the spiders maybe mentally ill head.

Chrollo briefly ignored the other spider to see what information he could glean from where the two were at. A coffee house seemed like something his ability should not pick to scare the shit out of Hisoka. Though the view of the Gas Glam Lands out the window to his left probably has something more to do with that. Removing his attention before the redhead decided to compete for it in his own way.

"I wanted to chat but I thought it appropriate to make you wait before I approached you," the spider leader drank from the coffee having it too sweet for his liking but perfect for Hisoka's.

"Curiosity may have killed the cat but waiting around seemed to have gotten you not too far. Please do indulge me. When I felt nen I was prepared to fight. This chat I hope will fulfill me in some other manner," the redhead had already taken a sip of his drink and knew it should be perfect for him but he's still pouring more sugar into it as he tilted his head coly to rest only on one hand.

The redhead wanted to test if the preference could be matched here by him coming up with an idea. If that was true then he could still control his nen even though his presence surrounded the two spiders it's being controlled by dancho completely unless he finds a loophole,' the redhead thought as he snuffed out the giggle at the danger he was in and how he technically was completely alone with Dancho.

"You seemed to think I needed help getting a date with Kuraprika earlier," dancho flicked his eyes over the coffee that brewed steam into his face, "I'm not offering payment for that."

"Of course not. Why would I expect it? You never asked for a favor," the redhead twirls his coffee with a stirrer the flicks of his wrist getting stronger and some spilling over but not seeming to care. The redhead shifted in his sit, ‘that wasn't a good imagination now stirring his blood up like it was my coffee. I have to do better at hiding my bloodlust. Now's not a good time.'

Chrollo smirked wiping his index finger through the liquid to bring it to his mouth, "Now suppose why haven't we gotten to fought yet?" the blacknet locked eyes with the redhead.

Hisoka narrowed his eyes from the shift of the topic, straightening his spine in his stool, "Is it on the table here?" tapping his nails onto the coffee table where no other members sit or stood.

"Why haven't we fought yet?" Chrollo repeated the question.

‘‘You can say no more politely than that," the redhead slumped into the chair resting his head on the table like a pet sulking.

Chrollo stood from his perch on the barstool, "That'll be all Hisoka," making the labyrinth vanish also with room for any other compromises.


	12. L's Query

Kurapika smiled at the sunlight on the campus, the day off to go to the seminar was turning out to be more needed then he originally thought, walking slower than his normal speed walk that made Leorio jog even with his longer stride. Looking forward to the book talk of humanities. Featuring the famous philosopher Nietzsche's personal diary, which was a contradiction, considering his views of existence and how it's believed he stated that most existences were meaningless in his context.

Doing a double take at seeing Chrollo in one of the chairs in the back smiling at his silliness, â€˜of course, he likes philosophy the debate we had at the theater should testify to that.' Focusing on the lecture until it ended, standing he looks for the blacknet on his way out not seeing him.

Kurapika had found a spot to eat outside near a tree and insight of the outdoor patio from the coffee shop. Tilting his face to the sunshine, taking a deep breath. Catching up on life. Coming here for ideas on how to deal with Nobunaga while he was juggling Chrollo. Both were love interests he guess he'd call them? Kurapika got absorbed into Nobunaga's life to keep people safe but that changed not being as bad as it could've been not only that, but the swordsman seemed to be like Gon minus the violence. The two were down for hearty laughs and could get other people to do so if they spent enough time together. Kuraprika had noticed his mood has improved.

Chrollo was a whole another story it felt nice to have someone to talk to on that level. His friends were nice but going in depth with them felt like he was talking to a poster child for adoption about the loss of his family. It was a kind of sense around Chrollo the blacknet would have a good chance at understanding what Kuraprika's past is without the need to get a friend involved and get them in danger. Chrollo is a safe outlet for his emotions.

Kurapika really zoned out if you gave him the chance to Chrollo noticed as he watched the blond. Eventually Chrollo gave in and walked across the sidewalk and grass to stand next to the blond, eyeing a spot to sit but felt the blond might scramble.

Kurapika noticed Chrollo a little too late and jump at the man who smiled at him. Kurapika returned the smiled on reflex "Hello, You went to other lectures?''

The blacknet nodded, "the one where authors and artists created self-images of themselves, biography and portraits."

Kurapika smiled thinking of the seminars he had gone to. They had even more in common now. "The reflection in the glass orb I found eye-catching, it was different from the rest," the blond opened the conversation.

Chrollo smiled, "I think that one is popular as it's aesthetically pleasing to people who don't want to think about the emotional value."

"Like Picasso's pieces," Kurapika explained, "blobs and colors randomly, seemingly spun aren't liked."

Chrollo nodded as he took a seat with about a foot of distance between him and the blond, "I would say that it's sad like you seem to think but the people who look deeper even a little bit are richer than the rest who have been programmed by their living to like pretty things. Those people are then more precious because of the supply and demand rule applied by economics," Chrollo commented based on how the blond frowned when he said like Picasso's pieces.

"That's true but I still have a dislike for people that like going after pretty things just for their own selfish reasons. That's my bias but people who maybe get a little late to finding emotional and spiritual value in pieces I could get along with as being late could be the idea of black and white. To know what black is you should know what white is, the two define each other, but the person will still have to get there, it's a must," the blond's voice became sterner at the last words.

"Ah, you're being strong in your conviction," the eye doctor smiled, "usually you chat with me about things like this," the blacknet pulled a paper that was being handed out at the Nietzsche seminar. "I do have a question though, you're stating a bias and belief or in other words, logic founded on emotion. The people you could be talking about getting late to realizing the value in more things then just looks. What if they have a bias for that? You could conclude from what you said that the people who like pretty things have that bias thus they may never get to the level you say they must," Chrollo finished the question.

â€˜The question is basically about me, someone who doesn't see emotional or spiritual value in too many people and likes to look at pretty things. If I'm correct then Kuraprika will say my exact thoughts when I first thought about this,' Chrollo calculated as he focused enormous amounts of attention on the male next to him.

"One of the first obvious answers would be to have the right bias but I have a feeling it would be hard for you to say that you love the theory because that's not what you're looking for. As that solution leads to the question which is the right bias," the blond told Chrollo as he tried to figure out what would be a good answer to the second question now.

"That's right, which is ironic some would say. The idea of right or wrong is especially important and tedious. So much so that humans believe even gods have trouble with it and there lies the story of Satan and God," Chrollo put the Nietzsche paper back into his pocket he didn't need it anymore to get Kuraprika to think on the same wavelength like him.

Kuraprika smiled and shook his head, "I know there are a lot of people whose goat you would have gotten right now even if it is in an education perspective. A lot of Americans hold the belief of separation of church and state which came from the colonies in part because if you went to church you were more likely to learn something and it gave improper portions of power between people."

Â "I could see that in the old days and now too if we bring third world countries into the theory but that's getting a little off topic about what I want to talk about with you," Chrollo made sure he looked like he was relaxed as he reclined onto his back on the grass.

Kurapika turned his body and stretched out his legs to get more comfortable himself, "I'm listening," the Kurta simple replied.

"You can say I've taken a liken to this topic of good and bad because of my personal experiences and inquisitive nature. I believe you're on the same wavelength with me," the blacknet locked eyes with the blond, "while you already have quite a strong bias and I'm figuring out if I do too or even want a bias I want you to help me search for it. Kind of like the idea of black and white how they define each other," the blacknet finished and waited for his reply.

"I see you were dotting your I's and crossing your t's with the earlier conversations you were having with me. I honestly find it helpful too, these discussions so I'm fine with helping," Kuraprika answered as he stared back at the eye doctor while he held his hand out to shake on it.

Chrollo smiled as he firmly grasped the Kurta's hand and asked about any notes the blond had taken to discuss for the next few hours.

 

 

Killua frowned at the phone message he got as he sneaked it under the desk so the substitute teacher wouldn't see it through the person was slow to pick up anything in the first place. With the sound on the lowest volume, the whitenet pressed play just to hear Kuraprika say, â€˜I have a feeling it would be hard for you to say that you love the theory because that's not what you're looking for,' a guy then replied after that.

â€˜That's just a false alarm though the technology couldn't tell the difference. The guy's voice matches the one from the theater,' the thought made Killua smirk he was going to win the bet with Leorio hands down with this little nugget. Killua jolted when his leg got kicked by Gon who's eyes darted to the phone then to the teacher again. Killua mouthed recess then put the phone away again.

At recess, Gon walked with his friend as he talked, " I know that teacher is boring compared to Kurparika but can't we turn into a game to see who can pay attention the most so we don't get scolded by Kuraprika when he comes back?"

"The whole text thing was about Kuraprika," Killua informed Gon as he pulled his phone out of his pocket giving an exaggerated eye roll to the blacknet.

"You were texting Kuraprika?" Gon exclaimed as he pushed his face to look at Killua's screen then he frowned and said, "huh? That's just an app."

"You know how we set Kurparika up with nice clothes for that sudden theater thing he had to go. I put a little pin on it with the excuse for good luck and I've been seeing Kurparika wear it still but it's actually a sound transmitter that monitors Kuraprika'sheart rate so if something gets really dangerous, like him being attacked then it will flash and say transmit location to safe distant, so he can give us a hint where's he's at in case we got to go and help him," the whitenet finished his explanation and pressed play on the recording earlier.

"I analyzed Kuraprika's words and his tone along with the person he was with for most of the night. Though they turned their voices down between performances so I might be missing information there I could only get from Kuraprika or his date but the whole thing's made me suspicious."

"Whoa that's cool," Gon grabbed the phone Killua held out to him as he started to fill himself in on what Killua was talking about. "I think I'm starting to get what you're talking about Kuraprika sounds like he does when he's with us. However, this person is making him really happy."

"There's not much Kuraprika doesn't tell us about," Killua stated then added, "or we grill him about or figure out on our own. So, what I'm thinking is that we were already told about this guy, meaning that it's most likely Chrollo or Hisoka," the whitenet's eyes connected with the blacknet's.

Gon started to shake his head, "but we were told to stay away from themâ€¦" then the blacknet's mouth dropped as his face went from denial to shock then to understanding as he watched Killua nod his head.

"Then that means Kuraprika's trying to do everything by his self again while sacrificing himself again," the islander boy declared his cheeks puffed out at how childlike the blond could be when it came to getting his way as the student stomped his foot on the ground to help with his anger that was turning to anxiety.

â€˜That's not what exactly I was thinking but Gon's on board for more snopping so the end result is the same,' Killua thought then frowned at what Gon said. It wasn't like it was incorrect, but it wasn't the main problem.

"I don't think we're going to get Kuraprika to talk though if you're snopping around then this is still on the down low," Gon started to scratch his head as the sneaking around option dwindled with Kuraprika not having an extra key hidden around his house because he was too responsible to lose his original in the first place and didn't need a house sitter for anything.

"Actually, I'm going to go and talk to him after school today when he gets home."

"But then Kuraprika might find out about you trailing on him," Gon protested knowing that Kuraprika would go really incognito if that happened and it'd be mission impossible for sure.

Killua smirked as he put his phone back into his pockets, "don't worry about that I got my ways to deal with Kuraprika."

Gon smiled then shrugged, "ok but I do want an update later otherwise all that's left to do is play for now I guess," the twelve-year-old stated as he swiped Killua yelling tag as he ran past the whitenet.

 

 

Killua ran to Kuraprika's apartment around 6:55 at night making it in record timing as he pushed the doorbell to be let in.

Kuraprika stood from his grading and went to the door to let the student in noticing how Killua was by himself, "why's Gon not with you? Did something happen that you had to rush over here to get me?" The blond examined the whitenet's clothes for signs of blood and examined his phone for any emergency messages.

"Nah, nothing like that," the whitenet shrugged as he stepped inside and walked to the living room continuing his explanation, "Gon's just taking a bath because he's sore from losing tag after he ran into a tree trying to give me the slip."

"Oh," Kuraprika sighed then laughed as he shut the door, "that's not really like him. You two must have been going at ridiculous speeds," the blond found a seat on the couch next to Killua after he poured them both a glass of water. The Kurta turned his attention to Killua after he sat down and crossed his legs, "then what is this house call about?"

"Actually, it might throw you off guardâ€¦ but I'm curious if you're falling in love?" Killua asked as he kept his eyes on the Kurta to gauge his reaction as expected it was interesting.

Kuraprika took his time to responded as he cleared his throat from the water that he accidentally swallowed, regurgitated then swallowed again. The blond's coughs were the only noise in the apartment until he croaked, "Now that did throw me for a loop so why are you suggesting something like that, Killua, surely you have evidence right?" the blond put his water on the table as he now faced the twelve-year-old fully.

"I'd say first you took today off," the whitenet held up his pinkie finger," secondly, you're mood has been getting stranger especially when we ask how you're day was, or night, after we met up at school again," with three fingers up the whitenet showed them to the chain user as he raised his voice as he looked Kuraprika right in the eyes, " you haven't explained away the letter of concern about your eyes that was received at the school."

Kuraprika slowly nodded then spoke, "you definitely have thought about it but there are incorrect statements in there. First, you may not remember but the university in town was having humanities, philosophy event today that I went to and told you guys about beforehand. Second, the trend in my mood has actually stabilized in the past few weeks and I'm generally happier," Kurapika pursed his lips when he got to the third argument. "The third thing isn't easy to clear. I'm pretty sure the letter was left by Nobunaga who first brought it to my attention that I should go see an eye doctor."

"Nobunaga didn't think you would go without him tattle telling on you so he sent the letter to Gon who he knew the name of because he's the guy who was waiting for you at the end of the school day. That also explains why you tried to grab your phone when Leorio read the text message and you didn't look confused but more like annoyed or angry," Killua nodded as he linked the events together, they agreed.

"Yes," Kuraprika repeated as he played with the red earing he wore feeling better the subject had a chance to go away now. The thoughts were getting unsettling and he wanted to calm himself.

The whitenet waited for Kuraprika to look like he was in control before he was going to ambush the blond. Like it or not Kuraprika was still trying to deal with the three guys at his doorstep in a way that won't work, it's like an assassin using a toy gun.

The truth is the men were powerful and dangerous and aren't going to wait on the sidelines for much longer if they still are. The whitenet thought that some of them had already made moves. Since Killua didn't know Kuraprika's plan to deal with basically three or more enemies the assassin has to make a move first to help his friend.

Killua broke into laughter as he shook his head, "Sorry Kuraprika I can't say entirely what I was thinking. You falling in love has the same chance as Leorio not losing money to me in one of his bets. I'll be going now," the twelve-year-old waved bye to Kuraprika as he got up from the couch hearing the blond laugh with him and turned to leave.

Kurapika smiled at the sunlight on the campus, the day off to go to the seminar was turning out to be more needed then he originally thought, walking slower than his normal speed walk that made Leorio jog even with his longer stride. Looking forward to the book talk of humanities. Featuring the famous philosopher Nietzsche's personal diary, which was a contradiction, considering his views of existence and how it's believed he stated that most existences were meaningless in his context.

Doing a double take at seeing Chrollo in one of the chairs in the back smiling at his silliness, â€˜of course, he likes philosophy the debate we had at the theater should testify to that.' Focusing on the lecture until it ended, standing he looks for the blacknet on his way out not seeing him.

Kurapika had found a spot to eat outside near a tree and insight of the outdoor patio from the coffee shop. Tilting his face to the sunshine, taking a deep breath. Catching up on life. Coming here for ideas on how to deal with Nobunaga while he was juggling Chrollo. Both were love interests he guess he'd call them? Kurapika got absorbed into Nobunaga's life to keep people safe but that changed not being as bad as it could've been not only that, but the swordsman seemed to be like Gon minus the violence. The two were down for hearty laughs and could get other people to do so if they spent enough time together. Kuraprika had noticed his mood has improved.

Chrollo was a whole another story it felt nice to have someone to talk to on that level. His friends were nice but going in depth with them felt like he was talking to a poster child for adoption about the loss of his family. It was a kind of sense around Chrollo the blacknet would have a good chance at understanding what Kuraprika's past is without the need to get a friend involved and get them in danger. Chrollo is a safe outlet for his emotions.

Kurapika really zoned out if you gave him the chance to Chrollo noticed as he watched the blond. Eventually Chrollo gave in and walked across the sidewalk and grass to stand next to the blond, eyeing a spot to sit but felt the blond might scramble.

Kurapika noticed Chrollo a little too late and jump at the man who smiled at him. Kurapika returned the smiled on reflex "Hello, You went to other lectures?''

The blacknet nodded, "the one where authors and artists created self-images of themselves, biography and portraits."

Kurapika smiled thinking of the seminars he had gone to. They had even more in common now. "The reflection in the glass orb I found eye-catching, it was different from the rest," the blond opened the conversation.

Chrollo smiled, "I think that one is popular as it's aesthetically pleasing to people who don't want to think about the emotional value."

"Like Picasso's pieces," Kurapika explained, "blobs and colors randomly, seemingly spun aren't liked."

Chrollo nodded as he took a seat with about a foot of distance between him and the blond, "I would say that it's sad like you seem to think but the people who look deeper even a little bit are richer than the rest who have been programmed by their living to like pretty things. Those people are then more precious because of the supply and demand rule applied by economics," Chrollo commented based on how the blond frowned when he said like Picasso's pieces.

"That's true but I still have a dislike for people that like going after pretty things just for their own selfish reasons. That's my bias but people who maybe get a little late to finding emotional and spiritual value in pieces I could get along with as being late could be the idea of black and white. To know what black is you should know what white is, the two define each other, but the person will still have to get there, it's a must," the blond's voice became sterner at the last words.

"Ah, you're being strong in your conviction," the eye doctor smiled, "usually you chat with me about things like this," the blacknet pulled a paper that was being handed out at the Nietzsche seminar. "I do have a question though, you're stating a bias and belief or in other words, logic founded on emotion. The people you could be talking about getting late to realizing the value in more things then just looks. What if they have a bias for that? You could conclude from what you said that the people who like pretty things have that bias thus they may never get to the level you say they must," Chrollo finished the question.

â€˜The question is basically about me, someone who doesn't see emotional or spiritual value in too many people and likes to look at pretty things. If I'm correct then Kuraprika will say my exact thoughts when I first thought about this,' Chrollo calculated as he focused enormous amounts of attention on the male next to him.

"One of the first obvious answers would be to have the right bias but I have a feeling it would be hard for you to say that you love the theory because that's not what you're looking for. As that solution leads to the question which is the right bias," the blond told Chrollo as he tried to figure out what would be a good answer to the second question now.

"That's right, which is ironic some would say. The idea of right or wrong is especially important and tedious. So much so that humans believe even gods have trouble with it and there lies the story of Satan and God," Chrollo put the Nietzsche paper back into his pocket he didn't need it anymore to get Kuraprika to think on the same wavelength like him.

Kuraprika smiled and shook his head, "I know there are a lot of people whose goat you would have gotten right now even if it is in an education perspective. A lot of Americans hold the belief of separation of church and state which came from the colonies in part because if you went to church you were more likely to learn something and it gave improper portions of power between people."

Â "I could see that in the old days and now too if we bring third world countries into the theory but that's getting a little off topic about what I want to talk about with you," Chrollo made sure he looked like he was relaxed as he reclined onto his back on the grass.

Kurapika turned his body and stretched out his legs to get more comfortable himself, "I'm listening," the Kurta simple replied.

"You can say I've taken a liken to this topic of good and bad because of my personal experiences and inquisitive nature. I believe you're on the same wavelength with me," the blacknet locked eyes with the blond, "while you already have quite a strong bias and I'm figuring out if I do too or even want a bias I want you to help me search for it. Kind of like the idea of black and white how they define each other," the blacknet finished and waited for his reply.

"I see you were dotting your I's and crossing your t's with the earlier conversations you were having with me. I honestly find it helpful too, these discussions so I'm fine with helping," Kuraprika answered as he stared back at the eye doctor while he held his hand out to shake on it.

Chrollo smiled as he firmly grasped the Kurta's hand and asked about any notes the blond had taken to discuss for the next few hours.

 

 

Killua frowned at the phone message he got as he sneaked it under the desk so the substitute teacher wouldn't see it through the person was slow to pick up anything in the first place. With the sound on the lowest volume, the whitenet pressed play just to hear Kuraprika say, â€˜I have a feeling it would be hard for you to say that you love the theory because that's not what you're looking for,' a guy then replied after that.

â€˜That's just a false alarm though the technology couldn't tell the difference. The guy's voice matches the one from the theater,' the thought made Killua smirk he was going to win the bet with Leorio hands down with this little nugget. Killua jolted when his leg got kicked by Gon who's eyes darted to the phone then to the teacher again. Killua mouthed recess then put the phone away again.

At recess, Gon walked with his friend as he talked, " I know that teacher is boring compared to Kurparika but can't we turn into a game to see who can pay attention the most so we don't get scolded by Kuraprika when he comes back?"

"The whole text thing was about Kuraprika," Killua informed Gon as he pulled his phone out of his pocket giving an exaggerated eye roll to the blacknet.

"You were texting Kuraprika?" Gon exclaimed as he pushed his face to look at Killua's screen then he frowned and said, "huh? That's just an app."

"You know how we set Kurparika up with nice clothes for that sudden theater thing he had to go. I put a little pin on it with the excuse for good luck and I've been seeing Kurparika wear it still but it's actually a sound transmitter that monitors Kuraprika'sheart rate so if something gets really dangerous, like him being attacked then it will flash and say transmit location to safe distant, so he can give us a hint where's he's at in case we got to go and help him," the whitenet finished his explanation and pressed play on the recording earlier.

"I analyzed Kuraprika's words and his tone along with the person he was with for most of the night. Though they turned their voices down between performances so I might be missing information there I could only get from Kuraprika or his date but the whole thing's made me suspicious."

"Whoa that's cool," Gon grabbed the phone Killua held out to him as he started to fill himself in on what Killua was talking about. "I think I'm starting to get what you're talking about Kuraprika sounds like he does when he's with us. However, this person is making him really happy."

"There's not much Kuraprika doesn't tell us about," Killua stated then added, "or we grill him about or figure out on our own. So, what I'm thinking is that we were already told about this guy, meaning that it's most likely Chrollo or Hisoka," the whitenet's eyes connected with the blacknet's.

Gon started to shake his head, "but we were told to stay away from themâ€¦" then the blacknet's mouth dropped as his face went from denial to shock then to understanding as he watched Killua nod his head.

"Then that means Kuraprika's trying to do everything by his self again while sacrificing himself again," the islander boy declared his cheeks puffed out at how childlike the blond could be when it came to getting his way as the student stomped his foot on the ground to help with his anger that was turning to anxiety.

â€˜That's not what exactly I was thinking but Gon's on board for more snopping so the end result is the same,' Killua thought then frowned at what Gon said. It wasn't like it was incorrect, but it wasn't the main problem.

"I don't think we're going to get Kuraprika to talk though if you're snopping around then this is still on the down low," Gon started to scratch his head as the sneaking around option dwindled with Kuraprika not having an extra key hidden around his house because he was too responsible to lose his original in the first place and didn't need a house sitter for anything.

"Actually, I'm going to go and talk to him after school today when he gets home."

"But then Kuraprika might find out about you trailing on him," Gon protested knowing that Kuraprika would go really incognito if that happened and it'd be mission impossible for sure.

Killua smirked as he put his phone back into his pockets, "don't worry about that I got my ways to deal with Kuraprika."

Gon smiled then shrugged, "ok but I do want an update later otherwise all that's left to do is play for now I guess," the twelve-year-old stated as he swiped Killua yelling tag as he ran past the whitenet.

 

 

Killua ran to Kuraprika's apartment around 6:55 at night making it in record timing as he pushed the doorbell to be let in.

Kuraprika stood from his grading and went to the door to let the student in noticing how Killua was by himself, "why's Gon not with you? Did something happen that you had to rush over here to get me?" The blond examined the whitenet's clothes for signs of blood and examined his phone for any emergency messages.

"Nah, nothing like that," the whitenet shrugged as he stepped inside and walked to the living room continuing his explanation, "Gon's just taking a bath because he's sore from losing tag after he ran into a tree trying to give me the slip."

"Oh," Kuraprika sighed then laughed as he shut the door, "that's not really like him. You two must have been going at ridiculous speeds," the blond found a seat on the couch next to Killua after he poured them both a glass of water. The Kurta turned his attention to Killua after he sat down and crossed his legs, "then what is this house call about?"

"Actually, it might throw you off guardâ€¦ but I'm curious if you're falling in love?" Killua asked as he kept his eyes on the Kurta to gauge his reaction as expected it was interesting.

Kuraprika took his time to responded as he cleared his throat from the water that he accidentally swallowed, regurgitated then swallowed again. The blond's coughs were the only noise in the apartment until he croaked, "Now that did throw me for a loop so why are you suggesting something like that, Killua, surely you have evidence right?" the blond put his water on the table as he now faced the twelve-year-old fully.

"I'd say first you took today off," the whitenet held up his pinkie finger," secondly, you're mood has been getting stranger especially when we ask how you're day was, or night, after we met up at school again," with three fingers up the whitenet showed them to the chain user as he raised his voice as he looked Kuraprika right in the eyes, " you haven't explained away the letter of concern about your eyes that was received at the school."

Kuraprika slowly nodded then spoke, "you definitely have thought about it but there are incorrect statements in there. First, you may not remember but the university in town was having humanities, philosophy event today that I went to and told you guys about beforehand. Second, the trend in my mood has actually stabilized in the past few weeks and I'm generally happier," Kurapika pursed his lips when he got to the third argument. "The third thing isn't easy to clear. I'm pretty sure the letter was left by Nobunaga who first brought it to my attention that I should go see an eye doctor."

"Nobunaga didn't think you would go without him tattle telling on you so he sent the letter to Gon who he knew the name of because he's the guy who was waiting for you at the end of the school day. That also explains why you tried to grab your phone when Leorio read the text message and you didn't look confused but more like annoyed or angry," Killua nodded as he linked the events together, they agreed.

"Yes," Kuraprika repeated as he played with the red earing he wore feeling better the subject had a chance to go away now. The thoughts were getting unsettling and he wanted to calm himself.

The whitenet waited for Kuraprika to look like he was in control before he was going to ambush the blond. Like it or not Kuraprika was still trying to deal with the three guys at his doorstep in a way that won't work, it's like an assassin using a toy gun.

The truth is the men were powerful and dangerous and aren't going to wait on the sidelines for much longer if they still are. The whitenet thought that some of them had already made moves. Since Killua didn't know Kuraprika's plan to deal with basically three or more enemies the assassin has to make a move first to help his friend.

Killua broke into laughter as he shook his head, "Sorry Kuraprika I can't say entirely what I was thinking. You falling in love has the same chance as Leorio not losing money to me in one of his bets. I'll be going now," the twelve-year-old waved bye to Kuraprika as he got up from the couch hearing the blond laugh with him and turned to leave.

When Killua was halfway to the door he paused like he had an aha moment as he gasped, "hey, Kuraprika, you said your mood's been getting better with you being happier, but I haven't heard any complaints about the guys that were stressing you out, like Nobunaga. Aren't you happier because you're getting along with them?" the whitenet asked innocently enough as he watched Kuraprika out of the peripheral of his eye seeing the blonde pause and blink slowly before his eyes widened and his face turned into one of concentration.

Killua smirked as he finished leaving, â€˜now Kuraprika's going to have a hard time fighting himself and actually might try to understand what I'm telling him,' the preteen thought as he let himself out and informed Gon about stage two of the plan.

 

 

Â 

 


	13. Mother of Blank

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient with me while I fell off the planet. Thank you again for also not giving up on this story even though the updates were definitely not every other Tuesday for a while.

Nobunga left the hideout at the same time again Feitan mentioned to Phinks, “want to kill time?” Phinks nodded as the two followed the samurai.

The samurai arrived when he wanted walking in to see Kuraprika packing her belongings he knocked on the door to prevent her from jumping.

The blond turned and frowned as he saw the swordsmen, “my eyes were checked and they’re fine.” ‘I’m mad with him but I’m glad it’s not a problem. I didn’t think it was even a possibility,’ Kuraprika chided to himself in his head as he slung his bag over his shoulder.

Nobunga walked closer, “You’re sulking.”

‘No’s’ the first thought Kuraprika had but it’s a little too obvious it’d be a lie. “It hit a nerve, the topic,” the blond communicated as he ran into trouble trying to find words for the man who patiently waited for a reply silently.

Nobunga felt the same emotion he had when Kuraprika took his number. This was deeper then what they were at but the chance of ruining it was high. ‘I should leave it alone.’ “We can move on from the topic,” the sword user replied as he watched the rapid nod he received. “Our next meeting- “

Kuraprika held his hand in a stop gesture, “You dropping by unannounced is harder on my schedule. I think it’d work better if we set a meeting time and place.” ‘This makes sense for control even if I’m not filled with anxiety around him,’ the scarlet eyes thought, ‘especially for Gon and Killua not sure how fast they’ll adapt to the situation.’

Nobunga raised his eyebrows as he grinned because he was liking where this was going.

“I’d like to pick the place. I want you to give it a try before you say no because of all the places you took me. The library at Westerfield and Cos on Sunday at one pm,” Kuraprika keenly watched for reactions, feeling his gut burn until the man nodded.

“Yeah you should put effort in.”

The scarlet eyes questioned, “what do you mean?” crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head to the side.

Phinks and Feiten peeked in through the window both in zetsu.

Feitan looked at Phinks, “Nobunga trouble,” the interrogator finished Phink’s thoughts out loud, “small tits.”

Phinks nodded, “I thought Nobunga would have better taste. She’s got to make up for it in some other way.”

“What I meant is I’m happy you’re making a priority of spending time together,” Nobunga made eye contact with Kuraprika.

Kuraprika calmed himself, “the conditions work?”

Nobunga nodded, “want me to bring lunch?”

The Kurta shook his head, “I’ll eat before.”

The samurai rubbed his chin in silence, “is it possible you can bring me lunch?”

Kurarpika responded, “like buy lunch on my way and you give me money or cook?”

Nobunga replied, “cook, we’ve already got fast food.”

Kuraprika thought, ‘I have left over food from the dinner party I can pack those and be good,’ “I can cook.”

Nobunga grinned, “I look forward to it. I’ll see you Sunday,” he waved as he left.

Kurarpika packed his things a bit slowly so the two wouldn’t be walking next to each other and it being possibly awkward from more interaction.

Feitan glanced at Phinks, “food, fun Sunday,” getting a nod of agreement before the two also vanished.

 

 

Sunday morning occurred with Kuraprika unhappily examine his food he had with the potato salad watery. ‘I’ll eat the left overs for breakfast and make new food for lunch hearing moaning about the quality from Nobunga would be annoying.’

The preparations might have gotten a bit out of hand. The blond cut honeydew and placed the pieces in a Tupper wear bowl. Then took cherries and split them to make baked cherry crisps. Followed by the stems turned into additional crunch after he minced them to add to a salad.

‘I have desserts and main dishes but I need a main course,’ Kuraprika complemented. The scarlet eyes retrieved bread to make sandwiches and got two water bottles. Kuraprika narrowed his eyes at the food it still seemed … light, especially considering how much Nobunga could probably eat. After a rummage in the pantry the blond got bread crumbs and breaded some chicken. There was still more breading, so the blond got more food at the grocery store coming back with shrimp that he cooked and plastic cutlery.

The blond nodded at all the food now as he packed it his bag with some books he wanted to return then went off.

The blond had gotten about half way when a card fluttered around like it was in the wind but kept following the blond. Kuraprika gulped just the card alone had blood lust and it was likely linked to a redhead. After a scan with gyo the scarlet eyes confirmed it. After a sigh and a quick check of his options Kurapika followed the gum to a magician who partook in Tequila even with the time of the day.

“Now I thought I was pretty polite inviting you so isn’t it _ladylike_ to return the favor?” the redhead cajoled from his crouched position as he tossed the words over his shoulder.

“People don’t invite others without a reason,”Kuraprika crossed his arms over his chest as he continued to use gyo.

“Sometimes it can seem pretty frivolous still,” the card wielder took a swig from his bottle as he chuckled at the meeting him and Dancho had, ‘flirting with danger’s one of the most sensual things he can think of,’ the magician hummed. “Anyway to be polite to what you say, just a small amount. Most people know that the Kurta clan was murdered quite savagely by the Spiders. I’d be fine with lending my skills as I want to kill one or two myself and I don’t want you killing them all before I get to the party,” the redhead pouted out his lips, but his eyes were too serious.

“Why do you want to kill one or two as you state?” Kuraprika demanded.

“Believe it or not I had a fiancé once who got killed because she had sticky fingers herself. Call my sick personality a twisted coping mechanism,” the redhead scoffed at the end.

“Isn’t that suspicious to explain something like that to someone you shouldn’t be trusting even in regrades to a possible alliance, that’s some information,” Kuraprika frowned at the tequila drinker. Distrust toward Hisoka was built into the blond like his own skin.

“Considering how with a little bit of research I could find pictures of the bodies of your dead clan members that were taken as evidence and tape them to your front door while you can’t do the same with my fiancé I think it’s fair,” Hisoka jested as he moved his fingers as if he was counting.

“This alliance will only deal with the spiders and nothing else got that?” the blond questioned sternly as he glared at Hisoka.

“Absolutely, you don’t want me as an enemy and neither do I for the alliance,” Hisoka waved bye, “I’ll come in contact when we have to make an attack.” The redhead made sure to flamboyantly flip a card toward the blond who dodged it before he smirked and really left.

Kuraprika checked the time on his phone as he freaked out the incident made him late. ‘I’ll have to call Nobunga to tell him. I don’t want to be rude.’ The blonde pressed the phone to his ear as he ran. Kuraprika heard the ring until it went to voicemail.’Nobunga’s phone’ followed by silence until another voice yelled, ‘and Uvo’s. Don’t call unless you’re picking a fight!’ Nobunga’s voice came back on as he yelled at the supposed Uvo who laughed, ‘shut up you you’re ruining it!’ That was followed by Uvo supposedly adding more flavor to the message and Nobunga should learn how to take a joke. The mess ended with a beep to start recording the message for the caller.

“Sorry about the delay. A creepy guy stopped me and I had to deal with it. I’ll probably be an extra ten minutes late. I’m at Madison and Kebs.’ Kuraprika ended the call and jogged the rest of the way.

Nobunga was started to get irritated as he had already waited fifteen minutes now.’ Did she set me up?’ The samurai searched the area as if she would appear to slap the idea out of the water. ‘I’m starting to doubt her positon again is she upset or annoyed? I can give her an extra twenty minutes.’ The spider checked his phone for a start time and found a missed girl from an unknown number. A punch of the call button let Kuraparika’s voice fill his ears. The samurai sighed, ‘I shouldn’t have doubted her. Knowing her looks dealing with creeps is a common problem most likely. ’After a calculation of when the call was made and the time now gave the blond roughly five minutes to appear. Shortly she did. The blonde appeared as she waved her hand. Nobunga stepped away from the lamp pole he leaned on while waiting while she caught her breath, “where are we having lunch?”

“Under the tree,” Kuraprika turned and strided to the shade as he unloaded the picnic.

Nobunga watched the containers be removed from the blond’s bag; the equivalent of a mini clown car except food coming out.

Kuraprika watched the samurai’s expression and informed him, “it’s an idiocrasy.”

“I have no problems,” the samurai stated for the record as he pulled a container towards him and munched on the chicken inside. ‘It’s still warm, if she was cooking it to the last minute this is worth being late too,’ Nobunga thought as he reached for more.

Kuraprika watched the swords user eat as he dipped his shrimp into the cocktail sauce he brought.

The two speak at the same time. “You’re going- ““You don’t”

“Go first,” Kuraprika clarified as he motioned with his hand for the other to speak.

“No you,” Nobunga replied as he stayed quiet besides the comment.

The two waited for the other to speak until they resigned to talk and talked at the same time again.

“We’re on the same wavelength today,” Kuraprika smiled at the coincidence and brushed his hair behind his ear, “Do you want to dip the chicken or shrimp in the honey hickory sauce?” the blond asked as he passed the sauce to the other with the lid open.

“I know you like beer but I’m not encouraging you,” the Kurta shook his head and pulled the water bottles and gave one to Nobunga as Kuraprika opened his and drank.

“Ah, true, you remembered that I like that sauce makes me look like an asshole when we went to the bar.”

Kuraprika stopped drinking his water and looked at Nobunga with a smirk then averted his eyes.

“Don’t give me that I’m right look and enjoying it,” the samurai protested as he gave a dirty look but couldn’t hold it for very long. “What are we going to do here?” Nobunga asked as Kuraprika should hold the reins for the place she picked.

“Picnic then talk about the books and subjects we like. I definitely want to know more about your culture,” the blond informed the samurai as he propped himself onto his elbows as he laid on his stomach while he watched the sword user.

‘’Hmmm, I don’t celebrate many holidays they’re not too much fun, but I do celebrate success I go drinking with my colleagues, you?”

“I celebrate my birthday in April mostly because my friends won’t let me go under the radar. I do keep in touch with my friends when we have our dinner parties, we had one last Thursday actually. Besides going on trips for the big breaks like winter and spring etc.”

“I’ve got friends like that they come over for the food and the merry making leaving you with the mess usually or worse an IOU note as a joke,” the samurai replied and continued to scarf down his food.

“The preparation is the worst for me. I’ll introduce them to food they could like then they love it and I’m stuck cooking everything in the alphabet since it’s not a party without the Christmas Pecans or the garlic bread,” the blond exaggeratedly rolled his eyes. “It’s become a habit. I don’t feel happy with a meal I make unless there’s multiply courses,” the Kurta smiled then laughed at himself as another one of the desserts went into his stomach.

“That’s what you meant by idiocrasies, a peculiar habit?” Nobunga asked as he popped the lids back onto empty containers.

“Yeah, but I think it’s about time to go inside considering how much meat is left,” the blond placed the empty containers in his backpack while he took out his books then stacked them and picked them up to start the walk to the entrance.

The room felt cooler to Kuraprika then outside as he nodded with a smile to the librarian who called him by his nickname, voracious reader. Kuraprika returned with MacGyver as the books went plop. The chain user looked over his shoulder and said, “follow me.”

Nobunga followed the blond as she turned aisles then stopped next to her to watch her pull a thin book from the shelf. Kuraprika opened the book in between the two so the samurai could also look at the glossy spread of photos.

Nobunga moved closer expecting a dense page of words, instead in block letters ‘The Festival of Holi’ and people throwing colors on each other. One of a boy dumping purple paint onto a person from a bucket. The picture next to it was the two grinning. It caught his eye through the contrast looking at the blond who asked, “You’ve had enough time to look?”  After Kuraprika received a nod the blond turned the page and began to read softly not stumbling over words. “The festival Holi originated form India it celebrates the New Year by a fight. The weapon of choice is colors. Hands can be dipped and smeared, balloons can be filled and thrown or a sling shot used. Buckets can be set as ambushes. Finally, the city pumps paint through hoses to spray its citizens. The colors on you can be used to predict your fortune using the language of colors.” Kuraprika turned the page as he continued to read the associations of colors, “The amount of color represents how much you’ll receive in that luck.”

Nobunga laughed, “want to have a paintball fight?” the samurai glanced at the blond with a mischievous knowing look.

“You’re supposed to do it for the New Year,” Kuraprika reminded the sword user but thought of how his friends would enjoy it. Things were going well but it was a leap, making plans for that far in the future.

Nobunga pursued, “we’ll make another holiday with the same purpose when we have another date.”

Kuraprika smiled, “possibly. Anything you want to show me?” the blond asked letting the subject stay open for later.

Nobunga nodded, “let’s go for a walk, “the samurai waited for the blond to put the books back in their correct spots.

Feitan snickered as he narrowed his eyes in glee as him and Phinks followed on top of the roofs to the left of the couple.

“Bet on who can rattle her the most?” Feitan nodded as he retreated back the way he came and jumped to the ground.

Nobunga had felt the zetsu masters since the library and how it felt like he was a target but it had kicked into high gear and he wanted to take action. The samurai leaned toward Kuraprika’s ear, “I got to go to the bathroom so wait outside real quick,” the sword user tugged on the blond’s arm to a restaurant.

Kuraprika folded his hands in front of him and watched the people that passed by when a blond man in a track suit seemed to be eyeing him and the blond sighed then another presence jolted his attention as a flash of black came by and it felt like Kuraprika’s arm was being pulled off with the force of his bag being removed.

Kuraprika’s eyes glanced at the blond guy who now disappeared and chased after the perpetrators. Around two or three blocks when Kuraprika couldn’t catch up because of the other’s speed without using his eyes he made sure to regulate his breathing it would become a battle of stamina at this point.

Nobunga had gotten out of the bathroom through a window just in time to see Phinks look at the street and whistle then take off running. The samurai checked where Kuraprika was just to be sure and then pursued himself. When the bathroom escape artist threw the spider coin at the enhancer he caught it. Nobunga stated, “heads,” and waited for Phinks to reveal the coin he’d caught: tails.

Phinks grinned, “looks like we’re still allowed to play with her. Though you could lighten up you know. Come up with some bullshit about being the white knight who retrieved her bag and let Feitan get away,” if the enhancer has eyebrows he would’ve raised them suggestively in a get some way.

“That’s not my main concern Kuraprika’s feisty if she caught Feitan they’d fight,” the samurai warned as he kept pace with Kuraprika and Feitan on the ground.

“If she died that’d be a boner killer but at least you can say Uvogin didn’t meet her,” Phinks had to howl in laughter at the familiar abuse. “Though I thought you’d have better taste how does she make up for it?”

Nobunga had already started to tune out the fist grappler there were days when he was an ass and there wasn’t much to do about it. “Phinks, you need to be quiet. Feitan and her are in an alleyway,” the samurai hushed the blond by punching him in the bicep.

Kuraprika held out his hand, “give me my bag you are cornered,” he narrowed his eyes as he used one of his disciplining voices. Honestly, inside the Kurta’s head he wasn’t as calm, ‘what the hell?! I want the creepy, sadistic, annoying bastards to leave me alone for a conceivable time when I forget, even if it’s for a few seconds such people exist. Is that too much to ask?’

Feitan scoffed then followed with an eye roll, “no,” he simply stated but the reaction the victim gave wasn’t enough so the interrogator added a middle finger.

Kuraprika glared at the man who seemed to have a knack for button pressing though to be on the safe side Kuraprika declared his intentions, “ you’ll give me back my bag or I’ll show you what an obscene gesture I can do with one of my hands toward your attitude,” the last part came out with a bite. Really, the blond did not have time for this.

Feitan shook his head in a slow pronounced way then dropped the bag to the ground to kick it with his foot behind him and continued to stand where he was.

Kuraprika sighed then started to take steps toward the bag snatcher. It was when Kuraprika was two feet away that he pivoted on his back left foot to swing around his right leg for a 360 round house kick.

Fetein laughed the kick really had missed when he dodged it as he taunted the girl, “bad attack.”

Kuraprika stopped his movement with his bag on his shoulder a smile on his face. “Dodging an attack is ingrained into most people that’s a problem when you’re trying to protect something though,”Kuraprika stated while his eyes locked with the thief’s, “I’ll take this and better not see you trying any funny business.” Kuraprika wanted to make a point because of how shady this guy is. ‘Though getting out of here will be hard because you can’t turn your back to this one,’ the blond grimly thought before he heard another no.

Kuraprika had to jump back to gain enough space to dodge the thief’s quick succession of attacks and still a few of them Kuraprika felt air brush onto his skin. It’s when there’s a jump that landed the Kurta member with his back to the wall the blond decided to roll under and away from the attacker. The bag as big as it was didn’t help out with the endeavor. The thief got a hold of it again.

Kurarpika swung his hand almost one hundred and eighty degrees right into the thief’s butt. The sound acted like an expensive phone was just dropped. The thief paused then narrowed his eyes as he turned to look over his shoulder at Kuraprika who got his bag back from the stunned thief and jumped further back to the front of the alley. The blonde clenched his bag to his chest with both hands after he put more distance between the two with some hurried steps. After Kurparika caught his breath form the adrenaline rush he spat out, “I’ll spank you again you damn brat if you keep it up. I am not in the mood for this today.”

Phinks wheezed out a statement, “she—” then he couldn’t hold it anymore and clutched his stomach as his forehead kissed the top of the building he was crouched on as he watched the fight conspire. The blond ended up hitting the building with his hand as he tried to breathe unsuccessfully.

Nobunga had gotten down to intervene so he wasn’t by Phinks looking like a cohort but he still wanted to be cautious around Kuraprika so he called out her name a few feet away, “Hey Kuraprika I think we should leave,” the samurai once he felt the blond wouldn’t attack anybody who got too close grabbed her by both of her shoulders and steered her out of there immediately.

Kuraprika walked with Nobunga ushering, sensing his mood the blond allowed him to. The Kurta got the man to stop when his clothes started to feel breezy. Inspecting the material to see his belly button showing along with his ribs. ‘The child cut through with a knife?’ The blond questioned as he examined how many stitches the clothing would need.

The samurai felt he has to use more strength and found the blond frowning at her clothes. ‘Feitan you sneaky bastard, using your nails to try and undress her.’ Nobunga removed his coat and put it around Kuraprika’s shoulders.

Kuraprika took the jacket, doing the zipper all the way as he blushed at showing skin. “I think the mugger ruined the mood Nobunga. I’ll be going home,” the blond stated as he sighed.

Nobunga frowned as he wanted to cotinine his date but the chance of getting the mood back wasn’t too high. Opting after the blond walked away to take care of his other priorities like Feitan and Phinks.

 

 

Phinks and Feiten were later then the samurai to their base. The predicament left Nobunga to glare too intensely at the door for the other member’s not to notice.

Uvo kept an eye on Nobunga, the sword user didn’t talk back when the enhancer jokingly insulted him. Whatever was going to happen was going to be a big bang.

The two walked in. Nobunga lifted his head higher and locked his narrowed unblinking eyes on the shorter one.

Phinks broke the silence as he jogged closer to the sword user and plopped down” she got any friends or a sister? Because she’s feisty,” he grinned and he broke into another couple of laughter.

Feitan wanted to hiss not appealed to the image of the blonde bitch coming to mind.

Phinks laughed at the renewal of humor, the secret being kept made Uvogin ask, “What happened that’s so damn amusing?” a gruff sound passed his lips as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

The blond turned with a sparkle in his eyes, “Nobunga’s girlfriend spanked Feitan!” The trouble maker continued to laugh. The interrogator glared at Phinks past pain packer annoyed with the situation. Even after Feitan stole Phinks wallet it wasn’t enough.

Shalnark’s eyes widened as he leaned forward to see if he heard correctly. The situation made more sense now but everyone involved? The manipulator heard Uvo gawfed in laughter. “A good pull shit prank Phinks but no one would believe you.” The first ranked arm wrestler shook his head with confidence but not seeing Nobunga or Shalnark laugh who should be in on the joke he paused briefly.

Phinks slowly shook his head, “not lying.” The maverick turned to the samurai, “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I know she has friends but they’re guys and I don’t know about her family.” The pony tail man pulled a coin from his pockets and clutched it in his closed fists. “You’re going to go after her again? Stay away from trying to undress her too,” he started to scowl.

Shalnark and Phinks showed mirrored faces of surprise. ‘No wonder why you’re glaring at the door,’ the two noticed the lack of jacket on the sword user, just a gray t-shirt.

“You got her number now?” Shalnark asked Nobunga, the blond’s addiction for Intel prompted him.

Nobunga wanted to say no to prevent this from turning into an interrogation of himself instead of the other way around with Feitan. The memory of her voice mail popped into his head. The slight reaction was noticed by the members.

Uvogin and Phinks got a glint in their eyes, “Hand it over.”

Nobunga ignored the two until the interrogator shook his head.

The samurai flipped the coin into the air winning with better luck then the transmitter who grinded his teeth together as he sulked. Then a glint formed in his eyes, “phone I flip.” The interrogator cackled when it landed in his favor.

A group formed to listen to the recording at ‘I took care of it.’ Uvo smirked “bet she did. Probably the same way she did Feitan,” finally at the point where he believed what was said about what happened.

Chrollo enjoyed the atmosphere it wasn’t every time Feitan was the one getting teased or joked with. Sparing him with an order, “that’s enough,” watching the group break up still laughing.

 

 

Kuraprika returned home and took off the jacket as one of the first things. The smell wafted to Kuraprika as he took the clothes in his arms, carrying it on the way to the washer. He tried to return things in a better condition or the same when he borrowed an item. Pulling the pockets out to make sure he wasn’t washing anything important on accident. Finding none the Kurta makes a load.

The blond stood in the room as he listened to the white noise of the machine. The situation changed again. The samurai said he wanted to be friends but his phrasing was awkward. I’ll need to talk to him, second guessing in my head won’t work. I’ll get more clues if I read his body language. Kuraprika sat on his hands and frowned. “I could call him,” he mumbled. Under his breath the blond asked himself, “How would you do that? You need a reasonable reason to call and then starting the conversation. The reason isn’t justifiable if I’m making it a problem in my head. Yet the idea is contradiction in itself. I prefer if the idea fell into a sense of logic, so I know where to go to get help or resources to use. My friends won’t be good resources, two kids and a man bluntly trying to get into your pants.” Kuraprika went to bed instead of figuring this out with more sighs then he’d normally do. A frown formed at the contagious feeling he had that was growing faster than he expected and harder to deny like before.

 

 

 

 

 

 


	14. Closed Vs. Open

Nobunga sighed after stopping by the atm in case he needed to pay Machi for the service he was going to ask her to do. The samurai glanced at the simply open sign she had on her seamstress store and opened the door. The male spider watched the female stare at him and not uncross her arms.

“It’s about Kuraprika,” the sword user leaned onto the glass counter and faced the pinkette. “What should I do with her?” The mustache man tried to smile.

“I’m not the person most people come for advice normally so if anything goes wrong it’s your fault for choosing the wrong advisor not mine,” Machi cut in.

“I’ve got faith.”

The pinkette stayed silent as she stared off into space. “What I heard from Shalnark is you haven’t been the clearest with her about your affections and that will get you in trouble. Clear it up with your actually feelings. Apologize for not telling earlier that should allow the process to go over smoother.” The pinkette paused as she watched Nobunga. “ If…” the kunoichi started then paused to make sure the samurai’s attention is where it’s suppose to be, “ you are fine with that and bumps in the road then tell her.”

“Something up? You don’t add conditions to your advice most of the time.” The samurai stood straighter and frowned at the seamstress. 

“There’s problems down the road for you. One of them is Hisoka he’s causing trouble with this I think.” The kunoichi narrowed her eyes at the mention of the man who’s nen wafted trouble like finding a dead body in the police station for normal people.

The samurai heaved a sigh as he thought about the spanking the sadistic member got and the situation was already trouble. 

“Kuraprika’s getting along with the troupe right now but the balance seems to be fragile compared to what can be happening with your love interest.” The pinkette stated in a slow manner.

“Hmmm,” the swordsman nodded, “ how much do I have to pay you?” the male spider started to reach for his wallet in his back pocket.

“Keep me informed for right now. I’m busy,” the pinkette stared at Hisoka who watched the two on the other side of the clear glass on the sidewalk.

The redhead shuffled his cards a bit more as he watched Nobunga walk out the door the two’s eyes meeting each other as the samurai didn’t hold the door for the redhead and walked past him a hand on his sword’s hilt.

Hisoka smirked as he thought, ‘let your guard down if I can walk around you.’ The redhead smiled as he opened the door to see his favorite and most gorgeous woman he could think of. “I was curious. Were you asking Nobunga for love advice regarding me?” The red head jutted a hip out as he stood in front of the female spider. “I could tell you what I like in explicit detail.” The card wielder rolled the last two words around like candy savoring them on his lips as his eyes narrowed in glee.

“I was not. I’ll get your clothes.” The pinkette turned on her heel and pulled out the pieces the magician liked to wear for some reason. Machi returned to the counter and dumped the clothes on them as she pulled out her phone to check her account.

“I’ll always and gladly pay you for your work Machi.” The red head whispered like the two were lovers and with his magic made his clothes disappear in their place a beautiful bouquet of dozens of red roses, strings of pearls dripped around the stems.

The pinkette opened a draw she had under the counter and dropped the roses into it. The bright red contrasted with the dried-out flowers and the diamonds inside. Machi closed the draw.

The redhead put a hand to his chest and lowered his head as if such an action was a physical blow to himself. “You do it so well. Better then any porn could. I’ll leave for convivence’s sake.” Hisoka turned around as he tossed over his shoulder, “You’ll join me?” As he turned the open sign to a closed one and left the shop.

Machi flipped the sign to open.

 

Nobunga walked the streets on his way to the library so he could think in peace without Uvogin’s or anyone else’s very subtle glances. The samurai’s guard was up with Hisoka spotted recently. This lead the samurai to catch sight of Gon who walked down the street with bags of groceries on both of his arms.

Nobunga looked for cars then crossed to the blacknet’s side and approached him.

Gon felt eyes on him and turned to see Nobunga as he moved toward him. Gon stilled the conversation with Kuraprika inside his head. ‘I don’t want you around him. There’s possibly conflict and you shouldn’t be caught in it.’ Gon groaned when Nobunga noticed the boy and the two eyes met. Gon looked around for an excuse like he was waiting for a bus or something and it was pulling up, like now. The islander didn’t find one.

“Thanks for waiting.” The samurai put an arm around the twelve-year old’s shoulders and pulled one of the bags from him to carry it.

“Yeah,” the islander muttered as he ducked his head and put a foot in front of the other to start a brisk pace. 

The samurai kept up easily. “Did Kurapika say something about me? Or is something going on with you?”

“Me.” Gon almost mouthed his lips popped making more sound then his word.

“If you don’t want to talk about it then let’s talk about Kurapika,” the samurai smiled as he lengthened his stride to keep up with the green lover’s pace.

“I got the hint Gon. You don’t want to talk but I need to talk to you about Kurapika.”

Gon whipped his head to look at the older man and clamped his lips together and chewed on them. ”I already talked with Kurapika. The thing is he’s…” the math challenged boy trailed off as he tried to find words, any word that would be good to use now.

Nobunga blinked then tilted his head to look at Gon as he frowned. “Don’t you mean she?”

Gon shook his head once then his eyes lite up. The islander boy thought, ‘most people think Kurapika’s a she. This should be a huge turn off and then Nobunga will go away. Though he’s gotten to be pretty nice.’ Gon frowned at the last thought then spoke. “Kuraprika’s a he. It was a surprise to me too. On Valentine’s day I wanted to get cards for my friends and I went with a female one for Kurapika. Kurapika pulled me aside after class and told me he’s a guy.”

“Are you—” Nobunga thought about how this could be a joke but Kurapika and Gon didn’t seem like they were interested in that. “Ok.” The samurai nodded and handed the bags to the islander. “Thanks, for telling me,” the last part came out as part question as the spider turned around and left. The man was out of Gon’s sight when he grinned and ran the rest of the way home to tell his friends.

Nobunga rummaged in his pocket and pulled out his phone to text the blond. Can we meet up at four tomorrow at the library? I’ll be waiting under the tree we had lunch at. 

Kuraprika checked his phone as he felt it vibrate. The blond read the most recent message first. From Gon: I don’t think you have to worry about Nobunga anymore. I told him you were a guy. He didn’t seem to take it very well. Killua’s still laughing and said he wished he could have seen Nobunga’s face. 

Kurapika smiled then opened Nobunga’s as he expected a don’t see each other anymore line. Instead Kurapika narrowed his eyes at the screen and texted back sure after he checked to see if he had anything scheduled which he didn’t. ‘Nobunga wants to do it in person? That’s nice as Hisoka has become more of a problem.’ The teacher thought then his eyes flicked to the jacket he still had.

 

Kurapika thought about lines he could say to Nobunga that would ease the let down as he walked to the library with a smile on his face. The blond’s eyes met the samurai’s and 

Nobunga started to walk toward Kuraprika. When the samurai was in range Kurapika pointed to a vacant gazebo.

The male spider nodded and changed direction. Kurapika pulled the flap open on his messenger bag and handed the jacket to the sword wielder. “I washed it for you. Thanks again for letting me use it.”

“It’s not a problem.” The male spider pulled the piece into his lap and glanced at the blond. “I heard some information regarding your gender. I just wanted to confirm that.”

“I was born a male.” The Kurta replied as he watched Nobunga out of the corner of his eye.

Nobunga looks at Kurapika’s waist not wanting to go so far as stare at the blond’s chest. Though this was something he had prepared for.

“That’s got to suck. You get attention from the wrong people all the time?”

“Absolutely. I’ve grown a thin strand of patience for it.”

“You did seem a little tart when we first met,” the samurai chuckled. “I got something I want to tell you though. It’s romantic between us.”

Kurapika paused the way Nobunga phrased the last sentence could say he was still interested? All the thoughts of well that sucks for you and I’ll go into the library, so you have enough time to yourself and can go disappear vanished from the blond’s thoughts. The Kurta glanced at Nobunga who held his gaze. 

“I’m interested romantically in you.” The samurai paused then continued. “A person whose advice I trust told me we’d get along but there’s be some rocks in the road. I’m taking the fact your gender is different then what I thought as a rock.” 

Kurapika opened his mouth then closed it. The Kurta pressed a hand to his face as he rubbed his temple. 

“What I’m saying is getting any romance for you is hard and it’s hard for me too. I think it’s a good idea to go with this.”

Kurapika opened his eyes and looked at Nobunga, “ I’ll think about it. I’m conflicted about saying yes to you. Though I find the offer tempting.”

Nobunga grinned then wrapped an arm around Kurapika and pulled him closer to press a kiss to his forehead. “ Thanks for the compliment.”

Kurapika blushed and cleared his throat to tell Nobunga to take his hands off. “Like I said I’ll think about it.” The blond removed the hand himself and stood to go to the library.

Uvogin grinded his teeth as he watched Nobunga and the girl sit in the gazebo together. ‘That two timing bitch,’ he thought. ‘I recognized her at the college campus when I went with dancho to keep him safe. She’ll be fun to fuck up.’ 

 

Kurapika heard the door to his living room break then saw it crash into his living room. The blond stepped out from the kitchen. “What’s going on!?’’ the blond held a knife he was using to cook dinner with up.

“You Kurapika?” Uvogin narrowed his eyes and balled his hands into fists.

Kurapika starts running through the options ‘ This guy is out to kill. I don’t think…’ lying the blonde says “no. there’s no Kurapika in this house and I haven’t heard of --”

“Bullshit” the giant of a man pointed an accusing finger at him “ you're lying to me.” The male spider powered his nen to ren and created cracks in the floor that let out a low groan.

“You're the blonde bitch two timing Nobunaga and Dancho.” The number one arm wrestler started to walk toward the blonde “ I’ll show you what happens when you mess with the spider.”

Kurapika stopped his attempts to put distance between the two. The Kurta felt his stomach squeeze till nothing was left. A blast of lava rage filled his body, it started at his offended ears, ended at his scarlet eyes. The blond hung his head, his bangs covered his eyes. Shoulders raised and tensed his back feeling like a drawn bow string. The aim will be deadly.

Uvogin stopped as he saw the blond hang her head “ You don’t want to fight anymore?” the question came out a low growl, spit flew from his mouth. Disgusted that she rolled over but she deserved it. The spider imagined blood on his fist, so much that it flies off in droplets and got splattered on the wall. 

“No, we’ll fight.” The blond stated, the force behind the words, the intent sounding like the two already were.

“Where?” The spider asked eager to finish the deed.

“Somewhere where no one will hear your screams as I murder you.” Kurapika walked past Uvogin to his closet near the door to pull a shovel out. Still fresh with dirt from gardening with Gon and Killua at school. “ You have a car for transportation?”

The giant scoffed as he glared at the blonde with the shovel. “You’re a cocky cunt thinking you’ll need that. I’ll get one.’’ The enhancer walked out the door.

Uvogin in the night air looked around the street and grinned at a black car. With a fist protected by ten he smashed the window. The car alarm to go off. “Shut up!” The giant shouted as he opened the hood to silence the alarm like Shalnark taught him then hotwired it. Uvogin grinned in the passenger seat at the curled lip the blonde gave who stood off a few feet from the car.

Kurapika watched the enhancer with a frown. 

Uvogin slammed his hand on the door. “ You waiting on me to wipe the glass off the seat princess?” 

The blond narrowed his eyes and put the shovel in the back almost hitting the passenger. 

The rocks and gravel made noise under the car as it stopped in the desert. 

“You drive so slow it makes me want to piss.” The instigator opened the door to jog to a rock face and relieve himself. 

Kurapika opened his door and took off the top layer of his clothes. The symbols caught his eyes. The collar’s symbol’s meant purity of mind, an honest living. The Kurta briefly closed his eyes as he recited the various ones from memory, peace with nature, love of neighbors. ‘ I won’t need this tonight, just a strong focus and protection of physically harm.’ The Kurta thought, one of his hands traveling to touch the fabric covering his chest. ‘The only thing I fear is my hate will fade with time.’ 

The enhancer charged his nen that caused a rockfall behind him. With a fist raised Uvogin ran at Kurapika.

Kurapika dodged the punches as he analyzed his opponent. ‘The man looked like a threat with his force but criss sake he’s accuracy was astonishingly terrible.’ 

“You can’t dodge the whole time if you expect to win!” The giant of a man informed the blonde with a yell. 

Kurapika wanted to keep dodging to make Uvogin lose his focus by incoming enraged but he was using more power. The chance of getting over his head was real though he was a little disappointed. Kurapika slide between the gap the man had between his legs and came out to do a 360 degree side kick, using the momentum from his spin to do extra damage. The hit lands in the enchancer’s kidneys the man did flipped over on his hand to face the blond again. 

Uvogin didn’t like how this was going. The first to strike was the one to win. He wasn’t going to let this bitch win. The spider smashed the ground to cause rubble and dust to make a smoke screen. Enhancer's had better reflexes than most nen users.

Kurapika swiveled his head as he tried to view the man through the dust. ‘Where is he!?’ Kurapika’s head snapped as his eyes widened when he sensed the man’s bloodlust before he threw his punch, putting his forearm to protect his body, the force sent him flying into a rocky wall nearby. Pain shot up his arm like he put his forearm under a rocket launcher’s exhaust pipes. 

Kurapika channeled ten into his back. The enhancer had left a weakness in his senses. The Kurta applied in to cover a chain and wrap it around the enhancer’s waist working on immobilizing his legs and arms without him noticing. This’ll give him an advantage later but he needed to deal with his arm. Kurapika’s healing thumb wrapped around his forearm to instantly heal it. He felt the pull on his ten but he didn’t feel particularly tired his rage and adrenaline acted like a full tank of gas.

‘”You're fucking kidding me!’’ Uvogin cursed the fighter before him. The bear wearer grinned from the blonde’s actions. ‘That’ll take a lot of nen. Another hit and you won’t be able to defend with ten. On the other hand I don’t have injuries. Though to think she was a nen user. She didn’t feel like one at all. Doesn’t matter.’ He was going to finish this business.

Kurapika was extra careful as he distracted the spider as he used his dowsing chain to attack him. The chain arched making it harder to dodge.

Uvogin grabbed the chain and tugged the blond toward him. The spider grinned as he ran toward the girl ready to make the blond’s face eat the ground like a buffet.

Kurapika straightened the chain, the blond acted as one anchor while Uvogin held the other end. The chain hit the enhancer in the squarely chest. Still in the air Kurapika landed on Uvogin with both feet in the space between his shoulder blades. The ground splintered from the force.

The blond jumped away not wanting to be an easy target as the man would try to break his judgement chain or attack him directly. “ I’m done playing games with you.” The Kurta held his right arm up releasing the in.

‘‘Shit!’’Uvogin cursed as he grinded his teeth. The spider muscle’s bulged from the force he used to try and break the chains. “ It comes down to physical strength.”

Kurapika narrowed his eyes as he watched the man struggle. “It forces you into zetsu. You're probably physically the strongest. If I can kill you then the others will feel my wraith as well.’

“Why the hell would you do that?! You're in the fucking wrong!’ Uvogin growled confused on why the blond will go after the whole troupe.

“You forgot …” Kurapika trailed off not sure if it was a question. To think the spiders would bluntly discard the fact of murdering people for money. “ Then let me remind you.” 

Kurapika took out his contact raised his face until the moon highlighted the scarlet eyes.

Uvogin gasped his mind rushed to question ‘ How’d she survive the massacre?’

“Now I’m going to ask you questions and you’ll answer them. Who are the other spiders?”

Uvogin grinned recklessly at the blond. Knowing how interrogation works, the less you talk the more power you have.

“What are the spiders nen powers?!” Kurapika yelled angry enough to punch the man’s solar plexus and cause him to cough up blood. The blond grinded his fist into the dent he had made. The flesh, organs and bones giving way under his fury. “Where is the spider’s base!?’’ The scarlet eyes straightened to glare at the man under his chains. The blond grinded his teeth when he wasn’t answered besides the eyes that dared him with nothing to lose. 

Kurapika unleashed the judgement chain his eyes took in Uvogin as he gasped his bac arching forward from the force. “ I’m going to set two constraints. You break either one and the chain will instantly crush your heart killing you. You will answer my questions honestly. You will answer my questions immediately with all the information you have available now. What are the spiders nen powers?’’

Uvogin took a deep breath as he felt the air through his nose “ Go to hell.’’ The death was instant with the last thought being on the enhancer's mind ‘See you in hell. I know the troupe will send you there. I trust them to do it.’

The airborne blood covered the Kurta more than he would've liked, it stuck to his hair, dripped off the end of his hair to the ground. The blond took time to stand over the body in silence as he glared at the cadaver.

Kurapika deactivated his eyes. ‘That was actually exhausting,’ the recent murderer thought as his eyes roamed lazily to the car. The teacher gripped the shovel to start on the grave. The Kurta got lost in the familiar rhythm, shovel into the ground then step on it to dig it deeper, toss it over his shoulder and flex his shoulders and back to help with the lifting. It had rained earlier making the soil heavier. 

Kurapika put the shovel into the car before he drove silently home, tapping his foot on the gas pedal as he stared with narrowed eyes on the road, “ how does Nobunaga fit into this equation?”’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient with me. There's two chapters left! Me and my editor haven't talked in a while and I just want to get this done so the quality of the chapters might not be what has been seen previously. I'll be rewriting this hopefully later there are ideas I want to add. The add chapter was being funky with me if the tabs not being there are such a problem then drop a comment and I'll go and fix it.


	15. Stripping can be for Safety too

Chrollo called the spiders together after a day with Uvogin not coming back. Along with the fact the spider didn’t answer his phone. The chances of him being dead were high. There wasn’t much trouble he couldn’t get out of.

“The last time I saw was when he went out around three. That was the same time as Nobunga left.” Shalnark frowned and looked at the samurai. “This is the best lead now.”

“Nobunga try and call Kurapika,” the head spider ordered as he starred at the samurai.

The phone rung and went to voicemail. 

“Call me back as soon as possible.” Nobunga ordered into the phone and snapped it shut. A frown came over his face as he thought. ‘ Kurapika and I fought before but he’s not this strong…?’

“Me, Machi, Kortpi, Nobunaga and Paku will go to Kurapika’s house. I’ll call.” The dancho gave the order then rose to take the lead as he walked out of their base. The blacknet had gotten the information from the paperwork the blond had filled out for his eye appointment.

Shalnark watched the group silently. ‘What’s the worst situation for this scenario?’ The blond tried to cheer himself on.

The group reached the apartment number with yellow caution tape that blocked the hole where the door was.

The samurai glanced at the door and moved under the caution tape and searched for signs of struggle besides the cracked floor. There wasn’t blood anywhere.  
The group left. Chrollo retried the blond’s number he received a full voice box. Chrollo called Shalnark. The blond picked up on the first ring. “ Kurapika’s not here.”

“After you left I did some research. Kuraprika has two places where he could be. With his two student friends Gon and Killua at Forest and Mountain Drive Apartment number 306. There’s also Leorio he’s at Patriarch and Punch 13890. He has roommates.”

“Good job.” The dancho glanced at Machi who held up the number two. The nen thief gauged Nobunga’s state. “Tell Shuzuki, Franklin and Bealowlov to capture Gon and Killua. They’ll meet Paku over there. I’m taking the rest to go to Leorio’s.” The blacknet hung up and ran to Patriarch and Punch. 

Hisoka grinned mentally at the news he overheard from Shalnark’s phone. I can make my arrangements without interruptions. 

 

Gon stared at his phone then looked to Killua as the two laid on the couch. The two already had gotten a warning from Kurapika the night before. When the two boys went to check on Kurapika they found the blond’s apartment in disrepair. 

The islander boy bite his lip as a whine passed through. Killua rubbed the other boy’s back, “ Kuraprika’s smart and strong he’ll be fine. Any way he still has to help us grow the flowers in the garden.” The whitenet joked with a smile on his lips.

The math challenged boy paused then grinned, “yeah, he won’t let us down.” 

The doorbell rang. Gon shot from his seat to yank the door open.

Killua tensed and covered Gon’s mouth the blond’s name came out stifled as the blacknet struggled and turned to look at the whitenet. ‘Call him,’ the whitenet mouthed as he pushed some buttons on his phone.

There was no ringing on the other side of the door.

The assassin grabbed Gon as he pulled him around the couch. The two dashed to a window and opened it. The blue-eyed boy glanced over his shoulder as the two jumped to see the door broken down. 

Gon kept an eye on their backside, “ We’re being chased Killua. Four of them.’’

The whitenet cursed as he debaated how to get rid of the chasers. If the two split up, then the followers would too, and they’d still be outnumbered. It would be best to stay together.

Gon had found a spot “ Killua there!’’ He pointed to an air vent and dragged the whitenet towards it. 

Killua shook his head but Gon’s already stopped. Killua lengthened his nails to act like screwdrivers as he twisted off the screws with both hands. The twelve-year-old cursed when one doesn’t fall to the ground, instead he ripped it out. Gon jumped into the air shoot while he pushed himself down faster with his hands on the sides. Killua followed behind him. 

Franklin nodded to the two spiders below they went in the building as Benlovow broke the door for the roof access. 

Shuizuiki stood before the opened vent “ Binky-chan suck up their clothes.” The vacuum let out an eager noise. 

Killua had landed on Gon with an umph their heads banged together as their limbs tangled. Gon tried to pull his leg back that was hooked on one of Killua’s legs.

“Try to flatten your body out Gon.” The two were almost there when Killua’s legs started to float as if someone was pulling them up. His loose shorts also moved with Gon’s green vest levitated so strongly the buttons came undone. “Do they have a magnetic user?’’ Killua questioned. 

The two boys were forced back the way they came. The progress being slowed because their bodies wouldn’t bend so easily to fit the path. 

Gon held onto the whitenet as he tried to hold him back but they were definitely going up “Killua I think it’s our clothes, they’re floating the most.”

“Like hell they are!” Killua blushed at Gon while he shook his head. The math genius’s gut told him his friend had a plan to remedy the situation. “They do not have a Jean Bart Stylist on their side!’’

Gon shook his head, determined eyes stared back at Killua, “ I’m not taking the chance of them capturing and hurting you.” The islander boy ripped with his nails at the purple short sleeve the other had been wearing “Off!’’ The clothing articles flew upward the two boys watched it go.

Killua’s face exploded into cherry red at the knowledge Gon’s theory was correct. The blue-eyed boy blinked to see his long sleeve shirt was also missing. The assassin cursed repeatedly in his head as he complied.

Shuzuiki blinked at the clothes she shifted through in her hands. “I didn’t think of that.” 

The spiders entered the building and looked for exits the two could use through the hallways. 

“We should find clothes Gon.” Killua had to watch where he was going and that meant staring at Gon’s butt - overall nice but awkward considering the situation.

“Like disguises with wigs too?’ Gon clarified as he stopped his eye brows knitted in concentration as he cocked his head to the side. The blacknet whispered to Killua “ there’s a bathroom close by. I can hear the flushing.”

“That’ll be a good place to get down from.” Killua shook his head in incredulous disbelief. “Your hearings’ almost too good.”

Gon took a right then a straight followed by two more rights until Killua could hear the sound, he unscrewed the nails after the coast was clear and went first. 

“While we were in there I felt like we were secret santa spy agents.” Gon said as he smiled at Killua.

Killua turned to give him a dirty look “ Not the time.” 

“But we’re in a better position now.” Gon the optimistic smiled.

Killua couldn’t stop the idea in his head. ‘ He’s such a dork. I finally get him to talk dirty at an inappropriate time. 

The two found an empty apartment as Gon leaded with his ears. Killua started to look for a closet and cringed at the gothic emo outfits he found until a pair of tight leather pants made him pause in his critique of who ever lived here and their fashion tastes. The preteen paired it with a sleeveless jacket with a high neckline and a beanie to hide his hair. ‘ This’ll help to sneak around.’

Checking on Gon to see what he found, looking at the twelve year old’s back Killua used his hand to cover his mouth to prevent the laugh from coming out. Gon in a girly goth lolia was too much.

Gon turned around his ears still picking up the sound. “Ohh you look good in that killua it matches your spicy attitude. You’ll help me with the hair extensions?” bringing a brown and purple clump higher for Killua to see, smiling at the whittnette.

Killua nodded not trusting his voice once he had control he thought “ we’ll act as a couple sneaking out without our parents permission.” Clipping in the pieces and trying to smooth back his messy mane. Having it bounce back over and over, finding a headband with black roses Kilua styled it sexyish and wild. Starting to leave when he found Gon frowning. “ I don't got money to pay them for the clothes.”

Killua drags Gon out of the apartment “ We should meet with Kurapika.”

The two walk down the hallway with Gon clinging to Killua’s arm.

Killua pushed the elevator’s button for the first floor as he kept an eye out for anybody in the area. The couple get into the elevator and pushed the close button. The doors started but were stopped when two ginormous hands pried them open. Franklin peered into the space.

Killua grabbed Gon and pushed him into the corner with him in front as he let out a surprised scream.

Franklin nodded then left. The doors stayed open till they closed completely this time. 

Gon blinked his eyes a few times and breathed, something he hadn’t been doing for the last minute. “I’m surprised they worked.”

“Me too.” Killua frowned as his thought how suspicious it was. “ Let’s see if we can send Kuraprika an email. We can say we’re meeting up where we went to for summer vacation. That way it’d be harder to know what we actually mean.”

“There’s the internet café. I’m sure I can get someone to let us borrow their phone temporarily.”

The two walked out as they pretended to chat.

Franklin stalked to the top of the building as he punched a speed dial number on his phone. 

“Illumi? What an unexpected call from you.” Hisoka purred into the receiver.

“Why are you putting my brother in danger? We’ve discussed how we were going to try and kill each other later but you seem to want it now. Along with my ruining whatever plans you have with Chrollo.” The older Zoldylock jumped from one building to another following the progression of his little brother. The manipulator cloaked himself in zetsu. 

“I see no problem with you taking care of Killua and Gon as long as both of them stay alive.” Hisoka narrowed his eyes as his voices dips an octave. 

“Chrollo will win the fight with you. For that I’m taking half of the cash from your bank account. I’m sure Chrollo will want to take the other half.”

“Lady luck might be on my side,” Hisoka twirled a queen of hearts between his thumb and forefinger. “I could pay you to stay away from Gon.”

“I’d gouge an eye out financially.”

“250 million for two days. You can drop him off after that and I’ll come to pick him up. I’ll even sweeten the deal if Chrollo falls then we can split the cash.” 

“Deal.” The assassin hung up. Illumi took two needles form his jacket and threw them at the two boys necks. The rush of energy he got from being in control sparked him into a run the two ran into a dark alley and climbed up a fire escape ladder to the roof. 

Illumi pressed a number on speed dial as he twisted the needle in Killua’s neck. The younger brother pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts to Leorio’s number.  
Then recites Kuraprika’s private email.

“What do I have to do?” A crunch of potato chips can be heard from the other line.

“Tell me where Kurapika’s friend Leorio lives. His number is 303-548-1893.Also, hack into the cameras in the area and tell me what’s happening.”Illumi ruffled his little brother’s hair enjoying how soft it was.

There’re numerous clicks. “It’s been blown up. Emergency services are at the scene. I’m rewinding the footage to show a group of five people entering the house. All phantom troupe members if the one in front’s appearance is true.” There’re more clicks.

“Send an email to Kurt.tech.support@hotmail.com that says. Meet for the Indian ritual asap.” Illumi ended the call before his brother can ask random questions.  
Illumi pressed a different speed dial number.

Chrollo’s phone rings in his pocket he pulls it out expecting Kuraprika but it’s Illumi.

“I have information you’d be interested in. I’d want half of the money that can be generated by this deal.”

“Okay if it regarding Kuraprika?” The troupe leader brushed off debris from his jacket. As he walked toward his other members. 

“Yes. The Kuraprika will be in the Samutouish dessert off highway 85 in a couple of days. Hisoka by the way is making a move on your head.”

“I’m surprised you contacted me and not him. I’m sure he bribed you handsomely.”

“Hisoka crossed a line.” Illumi’s blood lust bleeds through the phone. “Otherwise the two kids I’ve already dealt with.” 

“Are you keeping the money that Hisoka promised you on top of the split we’re having of his bank account?”

“Yes, I kept to my end of the bargain from what he told me.”

“Fine by me. Though I need you to subtly manipulate three bodies for me in exchange.”

“Deal.” 

Chrollo hung up as Machi stepped forward. “I personally want to kill Hisoka.”

“I thought his fate would involve more torture with you.”

“They’ll be plenty of that from all of us to go around.” Nobunga added. “Kortpi make copies of our bodies Shalnark can manipulate two and a contact of mine can do the other three.”

“I’d like to include the others on the vote on which one to go after first but it’d tell Hisoka we’re onto him. Therefore, we’re going after Kuraprika then we’ll get everyone together for Hisoka.”

Chrollo texts Shalnark the plan.

Machi finds a pair of keys in the house to one of the cars unlocking it the group takes off.

Once out of the city Paku wasted no time as she stomped the gas going near a hundred miles. It dropped to 60 when she drifted through turns and only went to zero when she stopped for gas.

They reach the destination in six hours. Chrollo stretched out his legs at the final stop as he opened bandit secret to create a cave to hide in as they waited. 

“It won’t be a long wait,” Machi stated to Chrollo.

The leader nodded trusting her gut. Three more hours slipped by when one person’s presence was felt nearby.

Chrollo looked to Machi and she nodded. The leader opened Bandit Secret and forced an open labyrinth to surround the presence. A chain lashed out as a man screamed in surprise, “ Kuraprika we need to get the fuck out of here after we find Gon and Killua.” Chrollo took in the chains most likely used to kill Uvogin and frowned. The desire to get this over with heightened. He killed who he thought was Leorio and trapped Kuraprika deep underground. The troupe leader used telepathy to speak in Kuraprika’s mind, Did you use those chains to heal yourself when you were killing my comrade? 

“I’ll kill you with these chains.” Kuraprika screamed as he ran from the spot he was at. 

Chrollo took off until he was directly above the blond then teleported down. The cover of Bandit’s Secret touched the blond’s palm. The rage on Kuraprika’s face didn’t falter until he felt his nen leave him. The phantom troupe leader kicked the chain user into a wall and secured him with the earth wrapping around.

“What the hell did you do?” Kuraprika heaved breath in and out of his chest as he got no reply from the man.

Chrollo returned to the surface after he closed off large portions of the labyrinth, enough for Kuraprika to breath. “Kuraprika won’t be escaping so we can deal with Hisoka.”

The group nodded as they took off to kill the traitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday to Mito Freecss.


	16. Stitches

Kurapika reached for his nen, he felt nothing ‘probably something like my judgement chain. I’m forced into zetsu.’ The blonde analyzed, staring into space until his brain thought to work again. He felt drugged. His head heavily leaning on his shoulder. The pain in his head like someone taking a wire to cut cheese, the cheese being sticky had to be cut constantly from every angle. The breaths coming out were slow, making his stomach flutter almost like he had to make the decision to breathe again. Breathing he felt his lip crack, tasting the metallic tang with his dry tongue. ‘They’ve dehydrated me. Making it harder to escape.’ His whole body felt numb, forced into a position for too long. A sound occurred that echoed. Kurapika listened thinking in his state he now had to be hallucinating. ‘ I’ll have to try and get out somehow.’ Kurapika coughed thinking took too much effort.

Chrollo stepped into the cell with Nobunaga. The blacknette wasn’t impressed with the blond anymore. Kurapika had become an empty shell filled with blood lust. He had given him food for thought to help him answer his question but there’d be no future progress.

Glancing at the samurai with his hands in his pockets. The spider kept his eye on the third body in the cell, his body tense. Nobunaga still needed the blond for something, he couldn’t hide his emotions well. Chrollo leaned and planted a kiss on Kuraprika’s forehead, “Farewell. I burdened you too much with my questions.” The phantom troupe leader turned around the upside down cross burned into Kurapika’s mind. “ You can do whatever you want with him.”

The kiss turned Kuraprika’s eyes scarlet as he glared at the two. They dare to show both of their faces, so relaxed in front of me. ‘I’ll kill both of you! Don’t you dare say you can do anything with me.’ The adrenaline had given him power but had strained him.

Nobunaga silently walked to the blond crouching, so their eyes were closer.’ The dancho had gotten his full of the beautiful eyes for now’ the spider thought forcing their eyes to meet, holding the contact his vision blurring as tears fell from his eyes. Just looking at the blond felt like his heart was being eaten alive by hyena with dull razor like teeth.  
The blond lets out a dry scoffing laughter.’ The spiders can really cry what a joke, he cries for the brunette Uvogin and batters no eye at my people.’ The thought made the blond grind his teeth.

“The irony is funny isn’t it?” The samurai stated to the air. The very air that was filled with the essences of love and hate.

“No…” Kurapika croaks out “ I find it funny you're crying. I don’t think you know what friendship is, or love, let alone capable of feeling such an emotion.” The way the spider just stared at him made him feel like an object, something to be sold; but he wasn’t, he was a human that could feel emotions. Though those emotions may have taken him too far.

Nobunaga nodded “ the spider isn’t supposed to feel things.” The samurai let loose his hair the bun being itchy from the tension. “ Uvogin told you to go to hell when you interrogated him,” pausing to glare at the blonde “ and that’s what you talking about.”

The blond's in stunned silence remembering the first blood on his hands, even if he had given the choice to stay alive the spider had chosen death.

“Don’t bring that up--” the anger of his eyes was washed out with watery shame and guilt biting his lip and avoiding the samurai’s eyes.

“You're asking the wrong person.” ‘ I’ll make you pay for what you did.’ The samurai draws his sword holding his breath as the blond watches the metal’s release form the sheath, hearing the shing at the end. Nobunaga pries open one of the Kurta's eyes his fingernails digging into the soft flesh. Holding the sword in his other hand, pointing the blade at the eye, visibly twitching as the blond struggled.

Kurapika knew what was going to happen next, his eyes would be scooped out and sold then he’d died. His body screamed in protest causing him to tremble. ‘ Don’t let him have the satisfaction. Calm down. Calm down! I want to live!!’ 

Seeing instead the sword slash through the blonde's clothes, lightly trailing blood in it’s path. The fingers were removed from his eyes. Kurapika’s eyes flashed to the samurai’s , brows coming together “What’re you-- “ the blond’s breath caught in his lungs stunned into confusion.

The two men’s eyes connect. The samurai doesn’t answer, planting a kiss on the flesh then biting till he tasted blood in his mouth, moving his tongue over the wound to get the red liquid out even more. Nobunaga nuzzled his face into the blonde’s neck tentative in his head but sure and aggressive in his movements. ‘This isn't something I’d normally do, finding it repulsive.’ Thinking back to his conversation he had with Dancho, after the enemy was captured and moved here.

Chrollo had made the prison deep in the desert mountains. Thirty miles deep with earth bending he stole from a blind girl.

Nobunaga kept on staring at the prone unconscious body as the two stood underground. The betrayal he felt would have turned his eyes scarlet if he was a Kurta. Drawing his blade to rashly hack the body to shreds, stepping closer.

The phantom troupe leader called out “ wait” the one word had the samurai turn so fast around his hair whipped him in the face, adding to his anger, pushing the hair out of the way like a swat of a mosquito. ‘‘What are you saying?!” grinding his teeth so hard he bite his lip, stomping his left foot to quell his anger. Remembering he was talking to Dancho and he shouldn’t take his anger out on him.

“The goal of revenge is to make yourself feel better. Most logic follows do to them what they did to me.” Chrollo knew he had to keep it short otherwise Nobunaga was going to lose his temper. Making eye contact with the samurai “ His punishment should be benefitting to his crime” eyes casting over the body “ being unconscious is far too merciful. Do both. You hate him for killing Uvo but started to romantically like him. You’ll need to get both emotions out of your system otherwise your revenge won’t help you.” The leader watched the spider closely wanting him to be healthy, knowing he’d take his time to recover. The muscles in his body seemed to relax, the enhancer's eyes locked onto the blond’s hair. “ I’ll think about it.” the samurai said. 

“ We have something to do before you come back here again.” Chrollo earth bends the area using it to strengthen his en. Nobunaga follows the blackette, trusting him to do what needed to be done. Minutes then hours pass till the grey eyed man stops in between a small canyon. The steps becoming purposefully. Examining the smooth soil Chrollo tells Nobunaga now that it’s time and wouldn’t cause him extra pain from waiting.’ “Uvo's here.” widening his stance to bring the body to the surface.

Nobunaga ran forward dropping to the body the first anguish scream flowing through the night like a red heron’s version of an execution signal. The wounds were fatal crushed organs underneath them.

Activating fun cloth Chrollo shrunk the body for a proper funeral. Taking Uvogin back to the base. Stealing candles on their way. The two didn’t mention how Uvogin seemed to be buried. The other members took time lighting a candle and placing it as a headstone. Shalnark watched Nobunaga trying to hide it.  
In his thinking Nobunaga closed his eyes, reopening them the blond’s body felt tense quivering with how tight he made his body.

Kurapika eyes were glued to the spiders hair. It’s been awhile since he felt the urge to cry, the burning in the noise, his throat closing in on itself his vision getting blurred. Trying to hold his head high as if the tears will act like water rolling down a hill pulled by gravity. The urge just being taken back, falling back to where it came from. The samurai, the spider was going to rape Kurapika. That’s what he meant when he said ‘I’m going to do to you what you did to Uvogin. First make me defenseless, chain me then torture me, finally death.’  
Nobunaga waited for the Kurta to stop crying, sitting back on his hunches. Debating if he wanted to continue. Letting the blond go was off the table, he’d recover and come after the troupe. Even if it took the spider time to realize the teacher wanted him dead, he knew the blond's stubborn personality enough. Flat out killing Kurapika was the next option. The idea made his stomach drop as his eyes narrowed surprising himself. The idea was disregarded immediately he had already decided what to do when he said he would avenge Uvo but learned the chain user’s identity. The tears had stopped while Nobunaga was planning on how to do it. Leaning forward to press his lips to the blond’s . A ghost of a kiss literally and figuratively.

“What… you?” The blond started, wanting a million questions answered but knowing in his gut he’d only get one or two.

‘’I’ll rape you over and over until my hatred is mentally exhausted. I fear my hatred will fade overtime. That’ll forgive you easily for what you did to Uvogin. “ The samurai growls, cutting the pants off of the blond, peeling off the layers made the samurai feel what he had in mind would maximize the torture the blond would feel.

Kurapika started to glare, his eyes turning red, pressing his butt to the ground so the clothe couldn’t be cast aside as easily as it was.

Nobunaga actually wanted to see those scarlet eyes. The urge taking him over after he thought they were one of the last things Uvogin saw. Leaning forward till the two men’s breaths mingled, pushing the blond into the wall, his fingernails leaving five marks.

The look the blond made made the spider want to smile. Felt like he could smile. Raising his head high, proud, achieved. This feeling would get better once he started. Retreating to reach for a bag. In it were some of Feiteni’s favorite tools on loan and lube, a small pack of tissue not ready to move onto toys. To leave the blond for days without anything to help him. Starting with a slow pace having to get a gripe with how much the blonde squirmed “ your squirming another type of grinding.” Letting out a small grunte when the blond hit a good spot.

“Stop!” Kurapika yelled clawing desperately at his nen who seemed to be a bear in hibernation. As much as he yelled it wouldn’t work. His body started to feel hot, his thighs trembling on the inside. The blond had rarely experimented not having a real interest or wanting to be distracted from his mission but he still knew the feeling. The Kurta’s eyes burned red at his lack of discipline. The way his body reacted like he never wanted to.’ The Kurta clan’s eyes turned red when they felt intense emotions. The spider remembered Dancho telling them to wound the children to inflict pain on them in front of the parents. Thus making the scarlet become even more pronounced. Apparently the effect occurred with intense sexual emotion. The glare would make gods shun away for fear of their lives. Stealing peeks as they were entranced by the lust. Nobunaga knew he could use this on the Kurta.

“How does it feel for your body to betray you. Especially those sacred eyes.’ stating the last piece word by word, slowly twisting the knife into the mental wound.

Kurapika banged his head against the wall, closing his eyes at the futility. This despair of helplessness was nothing like how he felt when he lost to his sensei, crying out he needed more power. He had left one of his chains open for a new power. He should’ve used it for something with the spiders. He should’ve learned nen the unorthodox way so he would’ve had more time to train. Really there was a lot of things he could've done so avenging his clan wouldn’t die here.

“No you don’t.’ Nobunaga grabbed the back of the blond’s head to prevent him from knocking himself unconscious. “ I'm going to show you how much I love and hate you. I’ll show you what you make me feel.” The spider growled into the Kurta’s face, making their two forehead’s touch, it came out like a declaration of war, loud and powerful with definitely more in store.

The torture started like that, the pauses stopped in the pace. There was barely any words exchanged besides Kurapika’s pleas when he stopped, eventually turning his attention to stopping the moans, sighs and groans. This was stopped also Nobunaga had all the time in the world to taunt him and learn his weak spots that were meant for a lover.  
After three Nobunaga pulled out, using his clothes to wipe sweat off him. Leaving the blond covered in himself, the mess already starting to stick.   
Nobunaga rearranged his clothes tugging his kimono gai. Watching the blond with his eyes downcast. Nobunaga took his bag as he left. The Kurta can starve for a few days. Though I’ll have to bring back water. I really don’t like the idea of keeping him alive with my support but he needs it. The samurai felt tired as he stepped into the cool air, a restful night waiting for him where he didn’t cry for Uvogin. But maybe the most recent tears weren’t for Uvogin, possibly someone caught in a mental prison.

Kurapika didn't bother to try and tell the time he was busy with other things. The smell of sex hanging in the air was the worst. The memories haunted him coming back to him each time he breathed or his heart beated in his concave chest from crying. Now that Nobunaga had left it was ok to see how he truly had messed up. He didn’t want to give the spider any ideas to torture him with. Gon and Killua were too young to have their lives ended, ready to jump in and save a friend. Gon, Killua and Leorio had become his new family and even as the time he was forced to spend with Nobunaga increased he prayed they wouldn’t come. The spiders were monsters, hungry vicious monsters. They hadn’t stopped with his first family. Why stop with his second? Even Pario, a boy who could make most regret they had hurt him with his cheerful smile and quiet patience was dead.

Oh, but someone did come. Someone he knew. Hisoka stood in front of the blonde ‘ My you’ve put me in quite the pickle.” brushing his hair back with his left hand, his right on his hip he jutted out. ‘Kurapika going after the spider causes them to die and lose toys from his play box. Kurapika not going after the spiders means he won’t have the blond later to fight as he wouldn’t be strong enough. A rock and a very hard place indeed.’ The golden eyes roamed over the delightful mess Nobunaga had made. Personally though Hisoka didn’t like sloppy seconds unless he was the one who created it. Didn’t have the pleasant ring to his classy nature when he wanted to be.

‘Nobunaga really needs to treat you better” leaning the ex-spider brushes his fingers against the blond's face and hair “ It’s so bad you're hallucinating” the redhead smirked.

Kurapika’s demands of break me out already died as he blinked, trying to assess the statement the transmitter stated. With every blink the color and form dulled until he is left staring into darkness. 

My eyes have been activated too intensely for too long, withheld food and water for prolonged time that I’m hallucinating.

Kurapika let out a scoff of a laugh, he had sung low. Even turning to Hisoka for help. One of the very people who had gotten him into this very mess. When he told me where the spiders would be in Yorknew. The anger the blond felt had become directed at nothing and everything at the same time. The only thing not receiving the treatment were the numerous pain of eyes that floated their glowing red in front of him. Nobunaga and Chrollo had come up with the idea to place them just in front of the blond. Lighting candles of soft pure white wax. When they died the blond was left wondering if the eyes had vanished not being able to see their forms in the dark. Not being able to stand the loneliness that rose in it’s hideous demon form to claw at his mind and heart. The blond would try to reach for his family pulling on his restraints until blood mixed on his dirty skin with the curses the blond had rarely used until recently, now spewing them like it was it’s own form of language the blond only knew. Cursing his own pathetic helplessness he’s been reduced to. His goals seemingly out of reach through his entire life span. One year turning into two, then five reaching nine. 

Eventually the only thing Kurapika prayed for was stiches in his eyes. Surely that would stop the hallucinations, the pain from staring at his clans disembodied eyes and the pain in general. To remove it all with stitches in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday Nobunga.

**Author's Note:**

> I update chapters every two weeks for this story. If there's a reason such as a character's birthday in the story I'll do a double update.  
> The only editing done to this is myself, free Grammerly and the computer's spell check. If someone wants to beta we can talk but I plan on sticking to the schedule so it might be hard.  
> I believe this work is dedicated to aionwatha-senpai, she was debating with one of her readers over Chrollo and Kuraprika or Chrollo and Nobunga. I decided to do both. Go check her out if you like Chrollo and Kuraprika, her story Dis Aliter Visum is pretty long though.


End file.
